Courtesy:
The AFC.comFutsal club championship formatSaturday, 07 August 2010Kuala Lumpur: The AFC Futsal Committee has decided on the competition format of the second edition of the AFC Futsal Club Championship in 2011.
As either Qatar or Iran will be selected as the hosts for the tournament proper, Thailand - fourth-placed team of the previous edition - has now been given a direct entry into the Finals.
The top three-placed countries in the previous edition of the AFC Futsal Club Championship - Iran, Qatar and Japan - plus the host country of the Finals in 2011, are given a direct entry into the Finals.
Fifth to eighth placed teams in the previous edition - Lebanon, China and Uzbekistan - also received automatic bye to the Finals.
In order to determine the eighth team from the two bottom seeded countries, there will be a single play-off match between Iraq and Indonesia.
To ease the burden of the participating teams, the highly anticipated Iraq-Indonesia match will be held in the host country of the final round of the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2011, which is either Qatar or Iran, prior to the commencement of the Finals (in the third week of June 2011).
In the Finals, eight teams will be divided into two groups of four and top teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
The draw for the final round will be held during the first week of March 2011.
Posted by
Luca Ranocchiari -->
luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
