Kathmandu, June 14
For the first time, six Asian teams will play in the FIFA World Cup. Australia has been nominated for the World Cup to be held in Qatar later this year after defeating South American country Peru in the international playoffs.
Qatar had qualified for the World Cup as the host country. Similarly, after clearing the screening round, Japan, South Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia were chosen.
More Asian teams will compete in the 32-team World Cup this time around.
Five Asian countries had previously competed in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The other five teams competed in Russia, excluding the current host Qatar.
From 1998 to 2014, the same four Asian countries competed in five consecutive World Cups.
There were just two Asian quotas in the World Cup until 1998. A small number of Asian teams competed in the World Cup, which had 24 teams. However, as the World Cup’s number of participants increased to 32 in 1998, the number of Asian teams also grew.
Asian countries are represented in six of the eight World Cup groups this year. Australia, the last Asian team to be chosen, is in Group D, along with defending champions France. Denmark and Tunisia are also members of the organization.
So far, 316 individuals have been chosen to compete in the World Cup, which will take place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18. The World Cup will now be decided by the winner of the intercontinental playoff between Costa Rica and New Zealand.
