The national teams of Bahrain, Malaysia and Bangladesh became rivals to the Turkmen football players following the results of the draw for the qualifying tournament of the 18th Asian Cup held today in the Malaysian capital.

24 teams will compete in the qualification, divided into 6 groups.

Turkmenistan and its rivals formed Group A, the matches in which will be held in one round from June 8 to 14 in Malaysia.

The compositions of the rest:

Group «A»: Jordan, Kuwait, Indonesia, Nepal;

Group «B»: Palestine, Philippines, Yemen, Mongolia;

Group «C»: Uzbekistan, Thailand, Maldives, Sri Lanka;

Group «D»: India; Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Cambodia;

Group «F»: Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Singapore.

The group winners and the top five teams from the runners-up will advance to the finals of the Asian Cup 2023.

Previously, 13 teams have already secured the right to participate in the final round of the 2023 Asian Cup. These are the teams of Syria, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UAE, Republic of Korea, Oman, Iraq, Vietnam, China, Lebanon and Qatar.

The final part of the main football tournament on the Asian continent will be held from June 16 to July 16, 2023 in ten Chinese cities - Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen and Suzhou.

Turkmen football players have twice participated in the final stages of the Asian Cup. For the first time - in 2004, when the tournament was held in China, and the second time - in 2019 in the United Arab Emirates.

The Asian Football Cup is held every four years. The reigning Asian champions are Qatar.