Jordan to start Asian U-19 qualifiers

AMMAN — The Kingdom's U-19 football team starts the Asian Football Association (AFC) U-19 qualifiers when they take on Kuwait on Friday.

Jordan will play in Group E alongside hosts Iran and Nepal with group winners and best second-placed teams booking a slot to the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship. The top-four from the U-19 Championship advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The U19 team regrouped earlier this year. It played a series of local friendlies and held a training camp in Turkey. Coach Islam Diyabat noted "friendlies in the past month helped boost our competitive edge and gave the squad much needed confidence".

Bahrain will host the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship with a total of 43 teams including the host competing in the qualifiers divided in two zones: the West Zone with 25 teams and the East Zone with 18 teams. Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams will qualify for the finals while host Bahrain received an automatic qualification (total 16 teams). The qualifiers will run until October 6.

If Bahrain finishes top of its qualifying group or one of the five second best-placed teams, the next (6th) second placed team will qualify for the final competition.

South Korea, which beat Iraq in the 2012 final has won the U-19 championship a record 12 times since it started in 1959. Qatar won the last edition in 2014.

The Kingdom previously reached the AFC U-19 Championship four times. In 2006, Jordan made headlines and achieved the country’s biggest sporting success when it qualified to the 2007 FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada after reaching the semis and eventually finishing fourth at the Asian U-19 Championship. It exited the group stages in 2008 and 2010 and reached the quarters in 2012. Jordan failed to qualify in 2014 when they exited Group B qualifiers in Amman.