The Asian Football Confederation sets March 30 as the date for the AFC U-17 Championship draw

The Asian Football Confederation has set March 30 as the date for the 2023 AFC U-17 Junior Cup draw ceremony, which will be held in the Thai capital, Bangkok. The tournament will be held in Bangkok and Chonburi, Thailand, over a period of 18 days, from June 15 to July 2. According to the lottery system, the 16 teams qualified for the finals of the 19th edition of the continental championship will be divided into four groups, where the participating teams were classified according to their final arrangement in the last edition in Malaysia, with the host Thailand placed in the first level. The Qatari team was ranked in the fourth level, along with China, Uzbekistan and Laos, after their return to the finals of the continental championship after they were absent from the last edition. Japan, the three-time winner of the title, will be present in the first level alongside the host country, and they will be joined by the surprise of the 2018 edition, which took runner-up Tajikistan, and South Korea, which ranked third in the edition that took place in Kuala Lumpur nearly five years ago. As for Australia, which qualified for the semi-finals in 2010, 2014 and 2018, it occupied its place in the second level, along with Iran, the 2008 champion, Yemen, the runner-up in 2002, and India, which hosted the 2016 version. The third level qualified for the 2014 quarter-finals, Malaysia and Vietnam, in addition to To Afghanistan, which will appear for only the second time in the tournament, and Saudi Arabia, the two-time winner. The Qatari team, which will participate in the finals for the 11th time in its history, had booked the pass to the continental championship led by coach Ibrahim Al-Shafei, with its deserved lead in Group C, after collecting 10 points from three victories and one draw in the qualifiers hosted by the Omani capital Muscat in October 2022, where it defeated The Lebanese team scored four goals to one, and the Iraqi team scored two goals to one, and the Omani team defeated the host of the group with two goals to one, and tied with the Bahraini team one for the same. The Omani team came second in the group with 7 points, while the Iraqi team came third with five points, Bahrain came fourth with four points, and finally the Lebanese team with one point. It qualified for the continental finals, which Thailand was recently chosen to host by decision of the Asian Football Confederation in His meeting last January included the teams of Qatar, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Australia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, who topped their groups in the qualifiers, along with the best teams that finished second in the qualifiers: South Korea, China, Afghanistan, India, Thailand and Laos. Since last February, the Qatari national team has entered a preparatory camp and played some friendly matches after the coaching staff summoned 24 players, they are: Abdulaziz Jafari, Awab Abdullah, Jalal Al-Sharqawi, Tahseen Muhammad, Jassim Al-Hamad, Fahd Al-Hajri, Muhammad Moatasem, Dakhil Al-Hamad, From (Al-Duhail) club, Aws Adel, Rashid Mounir, Faisal Muhammad, Yazan Saleh, Bassam Adel, Khaled Al-Shuaibi, Ahmed Al-Mughni from (Al-Sadd), Youssef Ziyad, Ali Muhammad, Ahmed Nasser from (Al-Ahly), Ismail Al-Ahraq, Ziyad Muhammad, And Anas Mohammed from (Al-Gharafa), Ghanem Al-Sulaiti, and Salem Reda from (Al-Arabi), and Ethien Andrade from (Al-Rayyan). It is noteworthy that the four teams that occupy the lead in the AFC U-17 Championship 2023 will qualify for the 2023 FIFA,Football,Soccer,Football,Soccer World Junior Championships in Peru.