Nepal have been drawn in Group ‘A’ of the AFC Solidarity Cup to be held in Malaysia from November 2-15.

In the draw held in Kuala Lumpur, Nepal were pitted against Pakistan, Brunei Darussalam and two other teams who will join the pool following their results in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. Timor-Leste are set to play Chinese Taipei and Bangladesh will meet Bhutan  with the losers set to join the three teams.

Group ‘B’ comprises of Sri Lanka, Macau, Mongolia with Maldives or Laos set to meet them following their Asian Cup Qualifiers. Nepal, Pakistan, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Macau and Mongolia were knocked out of the 2018 World Cup preliminary qualifiers.

The tournament would be an eight-team event if Bhutan lose as they have not expressed their interest in playing the Solidarity Cup. If Bhutan win, Bangladesh will join the tournament to make it a nine-team event. The participating teams will be divided into two groups with only the winners making it to the final.

The Solidarity Cup is launched by AFC to replace AFC Challenge Cup, the third tier competition between the Asian countries.