Courtesy: The AFC.com


Targholizade: professionalism on the rise

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Kuala Lumpur: AFC Director of Futsal, Ali Targholizade, has said that more and more countries are expressing an interest in having participants in the AFC Futsal Club Championship with the tournament evolving year by year.

Fifteen teams registered for third edition of the fledgling tournament with four automatic qualifiers, comprising of the champions from the host nations and the countries whose representatives finished in the top three at the 2011 AFC Futsal Club Championship, being joined for four teams from the first-ever qualification competition.

"Overall, the competition is growing to be more professional with more countries wanting to take part in future editions but they have to fulfil the criteria that includes them having an established home-and-away league back home," Targholizade told www.the-afc.com following Thursday's official qualifying draw at AFC House.

Vietnamese champions Thai Son Nam host the ASEAN/East Zone (Zone 2) qualifiers in Ho Chi Minh and have been pooled in Group A alongside the winners of the China's futsal league and Australia's Maccabi while Group B consists of the winner of the 16-team Thailand Futsal League, Pelindo from Indonesia and Myanmar's

The top two teams from each group will meet in a crossover semi-final with the winners

With only five teams in the West/South Central Zone (Zone 1) there was no need for a draw, with the quintet battling it out in a round-robin league format competition for the two available tickets to Kuwait.

Tashkent giants Ardus, who have won five out of the last seven Uzbekistan Futsal League titles, will host the qualifying group that also features fellow 2011 AFC Futsal Club Championship participants Al Rayyan from Qatar and Iraq's Al Karkh and debutants Nalogovik, the champions of Kyrgyzstan, and Al Wasl of the UAE.

And Targholizade is expecting some thrilling futsal action when the qualifiers take place from March 19 to 24.

"In Zone 2, I think Group A will be more difficult than Group B because there are strong teams from China and Australia in Group A while Group B sees two newcomers, Pelindo from Indonesia and ACE from Myanmar," he said.

"I think Zone 1 will be very tough because of the strong and experienced clubs from Qatar, Iraq and Uzbekistan there while the UAE is a new entrant in the competition.

"Comparing the two, Zone 1 will have tougher matches because most of the top ranked clubs are there but I wish the best of luck to all the teams taking part in in the upcoming qualifiers.




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com