Qatar- Stage set for historic FIFA Arab Cup draw

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) The Peninsula Fourteen out of a total of 23 teams yesterday learned their opponents in the qualifying round ahead of the historic FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 draw which takes place at Katara Opera House tonight. The highly sought-after event will kick off the proceedings at 9:00pm under strict COVID-19 protocols implemented by the Ministry of Public Health. The organisers yesterday revealed the face-offs between the 14 lowest-ranked teams among the participants according to the April edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings and they will participate in single-leg play-offs ahead of the tournament, which will be held later this year. The play-offs were decided according to the rankings, as follows: Oman (FIFA World Ranking: 80) vs Somalia (197) Lebanon (93) vs Djibouti (183) Jordan (95) vs South Sudan (169) Bahrain (99) vs Kuwait (148) Mauritania (101) vs Yemen (145) Palestine (104) vs Comoros (131) Libya (119) vs Sudan (123) The seven winning teams will join the nine highest-ranked teams who have already qualified for the tournament, the first of its kind. Hosts Qatar, ranked 58th in the world, will enter the tournament as the champions of Asia after lifting the continental title in 2019 following an unbeaten run to the trophy, which included victories against Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Korea Republic and Japan. Tunisia (26), Algeria (33), Morocco (34), Egypt (46), Saudi Arabia (65), Iraq (68), the United Arab Emirates (73) and Syria (79) are the others who will begin the Arab Cup campaign from the Group Stage. The tournament will consist of a group stage and knockout rounds. The 16 teams will be split into four groups of four, w i t h t h e t o p t w o from each progressing to the quarter-finals. Matches will be played at six FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tournament venues. Today's draw will be made by four FIFA legends: Wael Gomaa (Egypt), Nawaf Al Temyat (Saudi Arabia), Haytham Mustafa (Sudan) and Younus Mahmood (Iraq), along with FIFA's Director of Competitions, Manolo Zubiria. A limited number of officials will attend the draw, in line with Qatar's COVID-19 protocols, but the ceremony will be aired live on @roadto2022 and @ roadto2022en. The FIFA Arab Cup is seen as an important opportunity to test operations and facilities ahead of Qatar 2022. Both tournaments will take place in a similar timeslot, with the finals of each scheduled to take place exactly one year apart on 18 December, Qatar's National Day. The FIFA Arab Cup 2021 in numbers 24 :Reigning CAF Africa Cup of Nations champions Algeria are unbeaten in their last 24 games since their last defeat to Benin in 2018. 19 : En route to their maiden Asian title in 2019, Qatar scored 19 goals in seven matches. Nine of those came from tournament top-scorer Almoez Ali, who set a record for the most goals in a single edition of the competition. 18 :Egypt, Africa's most successful team, winning seven AFCON titles have an impressive record in recent FIFA World Cup qualifiers, losing none of their last 18 home games. 10 :Kuwait are the most successful team in the history of the Arabian Gulf Cup, winning the title 10 times 9 : Iraq have taken part in the AFC Asian Cup on nine occasions with their last appearance in 2019 being their seventh in a row 8 : Tunisia qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup after going eight games undefeated, winning six and drawing two. 6 : Syria have appeared at the Asian Cup six times, most recently in 2019, but have yet to go beyond the group stage. 5 : Saudi Arabia are one of the most successful Asian teams, participating at the World Cup five times. 4 : Oman have graced four of the last five Asian Cups. Their best performance was in 2019, when they progressed from the group stage for the first time in their history. 2 : UAE qualified the FIFA World Cup in only their second attempt when they reached Italy 1990. 1 : Morocco were the first African side to progress from the group stage at a World Cup, reaching the Round of 16 at Mexico 1986.MENAFN27042021000063011010ID1101988930