2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
The 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification saw various countries take part to determine 10 spots to the final tournament in Qatar under the new qualification system set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Six other teams also qualified for the finals, even though they did not take part in the qualifiers:
- The host nation: Qatar;
- The top three finishers in the 2007 tournament: Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic;
- The winner of the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup: India;
- The winner of the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup: Korea DPR.
Contents
Qualified teams
| Country | Qualified as | Date qualification was secured | Previous appearances in tournament1 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Qatar |
Hosts | 29 July 2007 | 7 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2007) |
 Iraq |
2007 AFC Asian Cup winner | 25 July 2007 | 6 (1972, 1976, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007) |
 Saudi Arabia |
2007 AFC Asian Cup runner-up | 25 July 2007 | 7 (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007) |
 South Korea |
2007 AFC Asian Cup third place | 28 July 2007 | 11 (1956, 1960, 1964, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007) |
 India |
2008 AFC Challenge Cup winner | 13 August 2008 | 2 (1964, 1984) |
 Uzbekistan |
Group C runner-up | 18 November 2009 | 4 (1996, 2000, 2004, 2007) |
 Syria |
Group D winner | 18 November 2009 | 4 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1996) |
 Iran |
Group E winner | 6 January 2010 | 11 (1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007) |
 China PR |
Group D runner-up | 6 January 2010 | 9 (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007) |
 Japan |
Group A winner | 6 January 2010 | 6 (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007) |
 Bahrain |
Group A runner-up | 6 January 2010 | 3 (1988, 2004, 2007) |
 United Arab Emirates |
Group C winner | 6 January 2010 | 7 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2007) |
 North Korea |
2010 AFC Challenge Cup winner | 27 February 2010 | 2 (1980, 1992) |
 Australia |
Group B winner | 3 March 2010 | 1 (2007) |
 Kuwait |
Group B runner-up | 3 March 2010 | 8 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004) |
 Jordan |
Group E runner-up | 3 March 2010 | 1 (2004) |
-
1 Bold indicates champion for that year
Seedings
On 6 December 2007 the Asian Football Confederation announced the seeding for the preliminary round of the 2011 tournament:[1]
| Automatic Qualifiers | Other Teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
- Teams marked '*' withdrew prior to the draw. All of them participated in the 2008 and 2010 AFC Challenge Cup, and therefore had a chance to qualify via those two tournaments.
- India (marked '**') were drawn into Group C of the qualifiers, but withdrew from the qualifiers following their victory in the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup which automatically qualified them for the final tournament.
- Maldives (marked '***') were the only other team that entered the Asian Cup qualifiers who could also qualify via the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup, but they were eliminated from the Asian Cup qualifiers before the group stage.
- The following teams did not enter main qualification, but could qualify via the AFC Challenge Cups if they chose to enter:
Preliminary round
The preliminary round reduced the number of non-automatic qualifiers to 20. Following the withdrawals of Korea DPR, Myanmar and Turkmenistan, only two teams were involved. The two lowest ranked AFC teams, Lebanon and Maldives, played home-and-away matches in April 2008. The away goals rule would be applied, and extra time and penalty shootout would be used to decide the winner if necessary. The winner of the preliminary round advanced to the qualifying round, where it was joined by the 19 teams seeded 4th to 22nd.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Lebanon  |
6–1 |  Maldives |
4–0 | 2–1 |
Lebanon won 6–1 on aggregate and advanced to the group stage.
Qualifying round
The 20 teams were divided into five groups of four. Teams played each other home and way in a round-robin format. The top two in each group advanced to the 2011 tournament where they were joined by the other qualifiers — Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India and North Korea.
Seedings
The following teams were drawn at this round:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
Tiebreakers
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss) and tie breakers are in following order:[2]
- Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
- Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
- Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
- Goal difference in all the group matches;
- Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
- Kicks from the penalty mark if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
- Drawing of lots.
Group A
|
|
Group B
|
|
Oman  |
0–0 |  Indonesia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat
Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Tayeb Hasan Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh) |
| Kuwait |
0–1 | Oman |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Rabia  64' |
|
Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City
Attendance: 22,000 Referee: Mohamed Omar Al Saeedi (United Arab Emirates) |
| Kuwait |
2–1 | Indonesia |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Mutawa 61' (pen.), 87' |
Report | Bambang 33' |
|
Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City
Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan) |
Group C
Following their victory in the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, India was given a bye to the final tournament and removed from this group prior to the first match. They were not replaced.[3]
|
|
| Uzbekistan |
0–1 | United Arab Emirates |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Al Manhali 90+2' |
|
Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium, Tashkent
Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Tayeb Hasan Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh) |
Group D
|
|
| China PR |
6–1 |  Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
| Gao Lin 2', 20', 84' Du Wei 27'Jiang Ning 37'Hao Junmin 47' |
Report | Nguyen Vu Phong 11' |
Group E
|
|
Goalscorers
- 6 goals
- 5 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
- Own goal
Aref Thabit Al-Dali (1) (playing against Bahrain)
References
- ↑ Australia, Japan top seeds for 2011 Asian Cup draw
- ↑ Regulations AFC Asian Cup 2011 – Qualifiers
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
