UAE have a lot of work to do

Hosts UAE have a lot of work to do when they line up for honours against the continent’s big guns Japan, Iran and Kuwait in Group A of the the 37th edition of the AFC U-19 Championship after the official draw was held at the Intercontinental Hotel here on Sunday.

By Hisham Al Gizouli

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Published: Tue 15 May 2012, 1:00 AM

Last updated: Tue 7 Apr 2015, 1:58 PM

The championship, previously known as the AFC Youth Championship, which returns to the UAE after 20 years, will be held in Dubai from November 3 to 17.

UAE will take on Kuwait in the curtain raiser on November 3.

North Korea, will stage their title defence from Group C against Vietnam, Jordan and Uzbekistan. The North Koreans won the title in 2010 beating Australia 3-2 in the final.

Saudi Arabia play Australia, Qatar and Syria in Group D. They won the event in 2006.

South Korea, China, Thailand and Iraq make up Group B.

The top four teams of the championship will qualify for the Fifa U-20 World Cup 2013 in Turkey.

AFC National team competitions director Shin Man-gil conducted the official draw.

The 16 finalists have been classified on the basis of the final rankings of the AFC U-19 Championship 2010. After the group stage from November 3-8, the top two teams from each group (eight teams in total) will qualify for the quarter-finals (November 11) and the four winners of the quarter-finals play in the semi-finals on November 14 and the winners advance to the final slotted for November 17.


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