The 12-time reigning champion Iran, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Maldives became rivals to Turkmenistan following the draw for the qualifying tournament of the 17th Asian Futsal Championship held today in the capital of Malaysia.

The qualification will feature 30 teams, divided geographically into 4 zones.

Turkmenistan and its rivals have formed group «A» in the united zone «Center and South», the matches in which will be held from April 10 to 12 in Bishkek. Another group «B» was made up of: Uzbekistan (four-time silver medalist of the Asian Cup), Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Nepal.

The two best teams from each group will advance to the final part of the competition.

In the Western zone, the matches in which will be held in the United Arab Emirates, seven teams will compete for five tickets to the final tournament: «A» - Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Oman; «B» - Iraq, Bahrain, UAE.

In the Eastern zone, the venue of which will be determined later, 6 teams will compete for three tickets to the final round of the competition: «A» - Japan (three-time Asian champion), China, Mongolia; «B» - Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong.

Holders of three more tickets from the ASEAN zone will be determined based on the results of the Southeast Asian Championship. 

The final tournament of the Asia Cup 2022, in which 16 strongest futsal national teams of the confederation countries will play, will be held from September 25 to October 20 in Kuwait.