Today, FIFA conducted the first stage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany* Preliminary Draw for Asia at FIFA House in Zurich. The draw, attended by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, General Secretary Urs Linsi and conducted by Deputy General Secretary Jérôme Champagne, paired off 14 member associations of the Asian Football Confederation for play-offs to determine which seven teams will join the top 25 Asian national associations in the Preliminary Draw proper, which will take place in Frankfurt on 5 December
2003.

Out of the 44 Asian national associations of FIFA, four associations (Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia and the Philippines) did not enrol for the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm), and Myanmar had previously been excluded from the 2006 competition for declining to play an away match in Iran during the 2002 FIFA
World Cup(tm) qualifying process, leaving 39 Asian teams in the field.

The top 25 Asian teams from the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking published on 22 October 2003 advance directly to the Preliminary Draw proper in Frankfurt, leaving the remaining 14 teams to face off for the seven other slots in the Asia’s 32-team Preliminary Competition format, due to be formally ratified by the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup(tm) at its meeting on 3 December.

The matches will be played on a home and away basis (knock-out system) according to the Regulations of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany(tm) and are expected to be completed by 29 November 2003.

The teams named first will play the first leg at home.

1 Bangladesh – Tajikistan
2 Turkmenistan – Afghanistan
3 Chinese Taipei – Macao
4 Pakistan – Kyrgyzstan
5 Laos – Sri Lanka
6 Mongolia – Maldives Republic
7 Guam – Nepal

For more details contact:

FIFA Media Department:
Tel.: +41-1/254 98 00
Fax: +41-1/254 97 02
E-Mail: media@fifa.org