Kuala Lumpur: Asia’s top 16 futsal clubs will learn their opponents for the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2019 on Thursday at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the excitement builds for the annual tournament, which takes place in Bangkok, Thailand from August 7 to 18 this year.
Clubs will be divided into four groups and have been seeded according to the final ranking from last year's tournament in Yogyakarta, Indonesia - with position A1 reserved for the side representing hosts Thailand - Port Futsal Club.
The Thai club will be making their return to the Continental stage for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2010 when they finished fourth, at the expense of traditional powerhouses and two-time winners, Bluewave Chonburi.
Defending champions, Mes Sungun, who became the fourth Iranian club to win the Continental club championship in 2018, return to the tournament in Pot 1, together with the side they defeated in the final last year, Vietnam’s Thai Son Nam.
Lebanon’s Bank of Beirut who finished third in the last edition – their best-ever performance – complete the line-up in Pot 1.
AFC Futsal Club Championship 2019 Draw Mechanics
The tournament’s most successful club with three titles, Nagoya Oceans from Japan, will take their place in Pot 2 along with 2016 runners-up Iraq’s Naft Al Wasat as well as Kyrgyz Republic’s FC Erem and Vamos FC who were the first Indonesian team to qualify for the Knockout Stage in the last tournament.
Uzbekistan’s AGMK FC and Myanmar’s Victoria University College FC, both of whom made their debuts last year, will return this year and are joined by this edition’s debutants Star FS Seoul from Korea Republic and Kuwait’s Kazma SC in the draw’s final pot.
Catch all the action from the draw ‘live’ at 3:30pm local time via the AFC’s YouTube channel.
Source: the-afc.com