AFC U-22 Asian Cup draw on February 14

The Asian Football Confederation is plugging the gap between the Under-20s and the senior national sides by creating the new AFC U-22 Asian Cup and 39 member nations have submitted their interest to participate.

The draw date has been set for February 14, 2012, at 11:00 hrs, at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, for the qualification campaign which will be held this year.

The first edition of the AFC U-22 Asian Cup is expected to be held in June 2013 while the next edition of the biennial competition will serve as qualifiers for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The 39 countries who had submitted their intention to participate by the deadline of January 13 are

Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen