The Asian qualifiers of the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup will be held at Katara Cultural Village from January 22 to 26. Sixteen top teams from Asia will compete in the tournament. The finalists and the third-place team will qualify for the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Tahiti in September.
Doha: A total of 16 Asian nations will participate in the Asian qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013 to be held at the Katara Beach from January 22 to 26.
The 2011 Asian Beach Soccer Champions Japan alongside with hosts Qatar, Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan are the participating teams.
The first placed teams from each group advance to the semi-finals. The two finalists and the third place play-off winner will qualify for the seventh edition of the Beach Soccer World Cup, to be held from September 18 to 28 in Papeete, on the Pacific island of Tahiti.
Afghanistan, the Philippines and Thailand have been late additions to the initial draw made in December last year.
At the original draw, held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on December, 13 teams were drawn into four groups for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 - AFC Qualifiers.
But after several national member associations asked for additional time to complete their application to the competition, registration remained open following the original draw to accommodate such high-levels of interest from Asian countries to participate in the qualifiers.
The draw for the additional three teams occurred at FIFA’s Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland recently.
In the last edition of the Asian FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2011 qualifiers 11 teams participated.
A state-of-the-art, 3,000 person, temporary stadium will be built on the shore at Katara Beach. Spectators can attend all matches free of charge and a small fan zone will also be set up adjacent to the stadium.
Qatar, hosts for the 2022 FIFA World Cup is hosting the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Asian qualifers for the first time.
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