Nepal were on Monday drawn in Group ‘F’ of the final qualifying round of the 2019 Asian Cup to be held in United Arab Emirates (UAE) from March this year.

Nepal avoided big guns to be drawn with Phillippines, Tajikistan and Yemen in their group. The 24-team qualifier, which has been divided into six pools, offers 12 berths for the finals scheduled for January 5, 2019  kickoff in the UAE. 

The 12 teams from the qualifier will join the defending champions Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and hosts UAE in the finals.

 Apart from Nepal, Jordan, Oman, Philippines, Bahrain, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, India, Palestine, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Turkmenistan, Maldives, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Chinese Taipei, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Macau and Bhutan are the teams in the final qualifying round. The qualifier will be played on home and away format. Nepal play their first game away to Philippines.

Nepal—who had crashed out from the first round of the joint 2018 Fifa World Cup and AFC Asian Cup—were granted the berth in the qualifier in place of Guam, who withdrew from the event. Despite failing to earn their place in the Qualifiers, AFC gave Nepal a second chance following their victory in the AFC Solidarity Cup in Malaysia. Nepal had clinched the trophy by defeating Macau 1-0 in final in Kuching.

The finals will be played over 28 days across eight stadiums in the UAE, the Asian Football Confederation said on Monday. The Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi will play host to the opening game and the final on Feb 1 in the region’s premier tournament for the member nations, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said in a statement.

Three stadiums in Abu Dhabi and two each in Dubai and Al Ain and one in Sharjah will host the tournament, which will feature 24 teams for the first time after expanding from 16 in the last edition in Australia in 2015.