Iran in Pot 1 of 2025 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The contenders for the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2025 in Thailand will discover their path to glory after the Final Draw ceremony, due to be held in Kuala Lumpur on December 19.
Set to be hosted by Thailand for a third time, the 11th edition of the tournament will feature 16 teams in action at the Jomtien Beach in Pattaya from March 20 to 30, 2025.
The cast will be split evenly into four groups at the draw, with the top two finishers from each group to move into the Knockout Stage.
Qualification for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is also on offer, as the top three teams will fill the three berths allocated to the AFC for the 2025 edition in the Seychelles.
Joint-record three-time champion, Iran, will return to defend its crown, along with 12 other teams that also participated in the previous campaign in 2023. They include the other four former winners, namely Bahrain, Japan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, while India, Iraq and Vietnam will be back after missing the last edition.
The 16 sides have been seeded into four pots based on their final ranking from the 2023 tournament where applicable, with Thailand seeded first as the host association, as below:
Pot 1: Thailand, Iran, Japan, Oman
Pot 2: the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, China
Pot 3: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Malaysia
Pot 4: Indonesia, India, Iraq, Vietnam
