World Cup Qualifying Draw Results
By Hamid Taghavi
December 8, 1999
The 2002 World Cup qualifying draw results are in. In Asia, 40 teams
will compete in 10 groups of four. Iran was the seeded team in group 2.
In 1998 Asia received 3-4 berths. Iran won the fourth berth by beating
Australia, the Oceania bracket champions. For 2002 FIFA allocated 4-5
berths to Asia. However, since the co-hosts Japan and Korea get two automatic
berths, in reality the rest of Asia plays for 2 or 3 berths.
In the first round, all four of each of the 10 groups play each other.
The ten group winners will advance to the second round where they'll be
placed in two groups of five. In the second round, after playing four
games within their groups, the two group winners will advance to the World
Cup.
In the third round, the two runner-ups of the two groups will play each
other in a home-and-away format for the right to play a European team (to
be selected in an equally convoluted and dizzying format) for a possible
fifth Asian berth.
Group 1 Oman Syria Laos Philippines
Group 2 Iran Tajikistan Myanmar Guam
Group 3 Qatar Malaysia Hong Kong Palestine
Group 4 Kuwait Singapore Bahrain Kyrgyzstan
Group 5 Thailand Lebanon Sri Lanka Pakistan
Group 6 Iraq Kazakhstan Nepal Macao
Group 7 Uzbekistan Jordan Turkmenistan Chinese Taipei
Group 8 UAE India Yemen Brunei
Group 9 China PR Indonesia Maldives Cambodia
Group 10 Saudi Arabia Vietnam Bangladesh Mongolia
(Source: FIFA)
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