Bangkok, Thailand, October 2, 2019: Defending champions Uzbekistan will face a tough opening round in their bid to qualify for Tokyo 2020 after being drawn with Korea, Iran and China in the preliminary round of the Asian Football Confederation U23 Championship.
The 16-team competition - to be played in Thailand from January 8-26 - will take on added significance as the top three teams will join Japan in qualifying for the next Olympic Games.
Teams have been divided into four groups and were seeded according to their final ranking from the last edition held in China in 2018. The draw took place in Bangkok.
If Japan finishes in the top three, then the fourth team will make the cut to the Olympics.
Draw
Group A: Thailand, Iraq, Australia, Bahrain
Group B: Qatar, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Syria
Group C: Uzbekistan, Korea, China, Iran
Group D: Vietnam, DPR Korea, UAE, Jordan