AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Draw: Telecast, live streaming, date, start time and where to watch online

India's captain Sunil Chhetri (C) and his teammates celebrate their team's victory in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying match between India against Macau at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore
India's captain Sunil Chhetri and his teammates celebrate their team's victory in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying match between India and Macau at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore

The final tournament draw of the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup will be held on Friday. The teams have been divided into four pots, out of which, the groups are set to be decided.

With 24 teams having made it to the main tournament, India are the only country to have qualified from South Asia this time around. None of the SAFF teams had qualified for the quadrennial tournament last year when it was conducted in Australia.

India are in Pot 3 alongside Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, and Vietnam. Although it was a 16 team event earlier, the tournament authorities have decided to convert it into a 24-team affair this time around.

The Blue Tigers have participated in Asia's top football competition thrice before, with their best performance coming way back in 1964, during the Golden Era of Indian football, when the team finished as runners-up.

Though the Stephen Constantine-coached side failed to qualify for the World Cup, they managed to reach the third round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers thanks to their 7-1 (AGG) drubbing of Laos in Round 1 of the play-off round.

In the third round, there were double round-robin matches, home and away, amongst 24 teams which were divided into six groups. India were pitted against Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, and Macau. They won four matches, drew one and lost one, ultimately finishing at the top of group A.

After getting back to the top 100 spots in the FIFA rankings, the Sunil Chhetri-led side is brimming with confidence. The AFC Asian Cup has always been very competitive so the tension is only building as we head into the draws.

Here also there will be 24 teams divided into six group, with the top two of each plus four best third-placed teams advancing to the Round-of-16. The United Arab Emirates are the hosts for the AFC Asian Cup 2019, which will be conducted from January 5 to February 1, next year. Australia, the defending champions, are ranked 40th, but Iran are the favourites to win the tournament, being the highest-ranked team at the 36th spot.

Here is all you need to know about the draws:

Date: 4 May, 2018

Time: 9 pm IST

Venue: Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa, Dubai

TV Telecast: No telecast

Stream: AFC YouTube channel

You can follow the LIVE updates from the draw on Sportskeeda!

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Edited by Soumo Ghosh