Courtesy: AFC

All bets are on Iran for AFC Futsal title again

4 March 2005

AFC - Played like an old tape recorder, once again Iran are set to dominate the annual AFC Futsal Championship Vietnam 2005 from May 22 – June 4.

A champion since 1999 when the tournament was inaugurated, their dominance in the smaller version of football has been tremendous since then. No Asian team has beaten them since and by the looks of things, all bets are on Iran to regain the title.

They are grouped in Group C with Kuwait, Lebanon and Bhutan. The top six out of six groups, plus, the two best second place finishers qualify for the second round.

Japan, who seems to possess the only realistic hope of closing in on Iran’s prowess, face an easy group in Group E with minnows Guam, Malaysia and Indonesia for company.

This year, AFC has introduced a new format for the second round and also created the Plate competition.

Instead of the usual knockout format for the top eight teams, the teams will be divided into two groups consisting of four teams each. The top two teams from each group would qualify for the semi finals.

For the Plate competition, the teams that finish third and fourth in each group together with another four runners up make up the competition which will be then divided into four groups of four. Winners of each group will then qualify for the semi finals.

The introduction of the Plate event will encourage smaller teams to build better national teams to challenge the likes of Iran and Japan in the future.