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Asian Cup – Qatar 2011

The fifteenth Asian Cup takes place in Qatar in January 2011. The tournament is open to all 46 members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and there are several different ways they can qualify for one of the 16 places in the finals.

Five teams have already secured their places by the following methods:
Qatar – hosts
Iraq – Asian Cup 2007 Winners
Saudi Arabia – Asian Cup 2007 Runners-up
South Korea – Asian Cup 2007 3rd place
India – AFC Challenge Cup 2008 winners

The AFC Challenge Cup 2010 winners will also qualify automatically for the finals. That tournament takes place in July and August 2010. (If India win again then the runners up will qualify).

The main qualification tournament began on the 9th April 2008 with a preliminary round tie between Lebanon and the Maldives. Lebanon won comfortably over two legs to join the 19 top seeded Asian countries in the draw for the group stage. The teams were drawn into five groups of four and will play the other group members twice each on a home and away basis between January 2009 and March 2010. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the finals. NB: India withdrew following their qualification via the AFC Challenge Cup and left one group with only three teams).

Qatar 2011 – official tournament website
Asian Cup 2011 Qualification Tournament