22 Jun 2020
Kuala Lumpur, 20 June 2020. Qatar U-16 and U-19 national football team made up of Aspire Academy student-athletes and graduates were in placed in Group A and Group D of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) championships to be held in Bahrain and Uzbekistan respectively. The draw took place at the headquarters of the AFC in Kuala Lumpur through a video call.
In the AFC U-16 Championship, Qatar will battle with hosts Bahrain, North Korea and Iran in Group A. The competition is set to take place from November 25 to December 12 in Bahrain. The top two teams proceed to the quarter finals.
Meanwhile in the draw for the AFC U-19 Championship final tournament for which another Qatari youth team comprising of Aspire Academy graduates was placed in Group D alongside Malaysia, Tajikistan and Yemen for the final tournament to take place in Uzbekistan from 14- 31 of October 2020.
The 16 teams will be participating in each of the two championships and will be distributed into four groups comprising of four teams. The top four at the end of the finals will qualify to represent Asia in the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.
Group A consists of Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Cambodia and Iran, Group B consists of South Korea, Japan, Iraq and Bahrain, Group C consists of Saudi Arabia, Australia, Vietnam and Laos, and Group D consists of Qatar, Tajikistan, Malaysia and Yemen.
The first four teams in the tournament will qualify to represent Asia in the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru and the 2021 FIFA-U20 World Cup in Indonesia.