Jordan U-16 girls begin Asian qualifiers

AMMAN  —  Jordan’s U-16 girls football team has left for Sri Lanka to play Asian Group A Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 qualifiers set for Colombo September 15-23.

Jordan will play Uzbekistan on September 15, Sri Lanka 17th, China on 21st, Guam 23rd. A total of 30 teams will play in six groups with the top team and best two second placed teams moving to the second round in February 2019, where the qualifying teamswill play in two groups with the top two from each group advancing to the finals.

Group B includes: Laos, India, Hong Kong, Pakistan and Mongolia.

Group C: Thailand, Iran, the Northern Mariana Islands, Singapore and Tajikistan.

Group D: Australia, Palestine, Taiwan, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan.

Group E: Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Syria and Nepal.

Group F: Vietnam, UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon and Bangladesh.

The U-19 women’s national team is also preparing for the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers set for October 20-28. A total of 27 teams play in six groups with Jordan in Group E alongside Malaysia, the Northern Mariana Islands and Vietnam. 

Group A: Lebanon, Australia, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Mongolia.

Group B: Thailand, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Singapore.

Group C: UAE,Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Guam and the Maldives.

Group D: Korea, Taiwan, Tajikistan and Bangladesh.

Group F: Palestine, Myanmar, Iran and Laos.

The top team from each group and the top two second placed teams move to the second round set for April 2019 where the teams will play in two groups with the top two from each group advancing to the finals.

In men’s competitions, Jordan was drawn in Group C for the AFC U-19 Championship to play alongside Australia, South Korea and Vietnam. Group A includes Indonesia, the UAE, Qatar and Taiwan. Group B includes Japan, Iraq, Thailand and North Korea, while Group D includes Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, China and Malaysia.

The championship will see 16 teams playing in four groups with the eventual semifinalists playing in the FIFA U-19 World Cup.

Jordan had failed to  qualify to the Championships  in 2014 and 2016 after earlier qualifying four times and reaching the FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada in 2007. The team finished fourth in 2006.

Jordan’s U-16 team has also qualified to the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship from September 20 to October 7 after topping Group A qualifiers. The team will play in Group B alongside North Korea, Oman and Yemen. 

Organised by the AFC, and held once every two years for Asian U16 teams, the competition also serves as a qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with the top four countries qualifying. 

In 2016, Jordan was eliminated from the quarter-finals of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship and missed an Olympic slot, as the continent’s top three advanced to the Rio Olympics. In the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship in 2014, Jordan took third place when it beat South Korea while Iraq won the title after defeating
Saudi Arabia.

In women’s Asian competitions, Jordan hosted the continent’s top eight teams in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup earlier this year. The Kingdom now 57th in FIFA rakings became be the first country in the West Asia zone to host the AFC Women’s Asian Cup which is held every four years.