So, the AFC has decided to launch a tournament for the emerging national teams of Asia. They are expecting 19 entries for the competition, to be played next year in a single country, and the AFC will pay for all expenses. The list of countries are as follows (the 17 emerging nations as classified by AFC, plus India and Bangladesh) Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Guam, India, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macao, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste I believe that Tajikistan are the strongest team here. Other teams with a chance of winning are Palestine, Kyrgyzstan and maybe India. I am surprised that AFC does not class Maldives as an emerging nation Any views on this tournament? I think it will give these countries much-needed match practice and can only be a good thing.
Maldives drew with SK, Uknow But think the reason for inclusion of India but not Maldvies is so football can grow in India as nohing beat winning to attract fans & in this competition India stand a good chance Anyway the list is not final as quite a few countries already indicate they may pulled out which is ashamed as the expenses are paid for. It is good though as a number of these countries do not played regularly enough like Cambodia who is out of action since the Tiger Cup & may see action again in the Asia Cup pre-quaflyier which is next year & that is too long a time To make it more effective for these nations, the competition need to be every 2 years