On May 5, the AFC announced through official channels the list of 16 host member associations in China, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Jordan, Kuwait, Tajikistan, Bahrain and Indonesia for the 2024th U6 Asian Cup Qualifiers in 23 and the first stage of the Asian zone group stage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games Men's Football Qualifiers, and the Chinese Football Association was among them. This means that the 1 Chinese Olympic team will play at home in September this year, and they will naturally have more competitive weight with home field advantage. It is understood that the Barracuda Bay Stadium in the Dalian Division, which will host the two international warm-up matches of the national football team in June, is likely to become the venue of the group competition of the National Olympic Team, that is, the home of the National Olympic Team.
The Chinese Football Association has previously publicly solicited cities willing to host in China, including Dalian, Qingdao and other places. The competition department of the Chinese Football Association and Ford Bao sent a working group to Dalian and other places in late last month, and finally chose the Dalian competition to host the Olympic qualifiers of the national Olympic team's group in September this year. The specific venue is likely to be the Barracuda Bay Professional Football Stadium in Dalian, which has just been put into use and has been evaluated by the test match.
It is understood that the draw ceremony will be held on May 5.
The AFC confirmed that of its 47 member associations, only Brunei Football Federation and Northern Mariana Football Federation did not register for the Olympic Preliminary Round. In addition, the Sri Lankan Football Federation was punished by FIFA's global ban in January for interference in its own government's internal affairs, and the problem has not been resolved, so it missed the AFC's May 1 registration deadline.
According to the competition plan, the AFC will divide 44 teams into 11 groups of 4 teams each.
Among the 44 teams, except for the host Qatar, the other teams are ranked according to the results of the 2022 Uzbekistan U23 Asian Cup. Bhutan, Pakistan, Guam, Macau who did not participate in the previous tournament, Afghanistan, Brunei, China and North Korea who withdrew halfway, together with Qatar, Mongolia and the Philippines, which had the worst results in the previous tournament, were included in the fourth bracket.
In accordance with the principle of different groups in the same class and different groups of the host team, in the drawing of the first stage of the Olympic qualifiers on May 5, the Chinese Olympic team, as the host team of this group, will only be in the same group as one of the five teams from Japan, Australia, Iraq, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates in the first seeded team. The second group of opponents was drawn from seven teams: Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Syria, India and Singapore. Opponents in the same group of Pot 25 may also be strong.
Based on various factors, as long as the Chinese Olympic team is not in the same group as the first tier Japan, Australia or Iraq, and the second tier Iran and Syria, then the signing position is ideal, and the chance of entering the final stage of the Olympic preliminary round will be greatly increased. (Source: Beijing Youth Daily)