Twenty teams will be divided into five groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team among all the groups will qualify for the tournament proper to be held in Australia in 2015.

AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ champions Japan, hosts and runners-up Australia, third-placed Korea Republic, AFC Challenge Cup 2012 winners DPR Korea and the champions of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup will get direct berths in the final competition.

The 20 teams that will be drawn on Tuesday are Uzbekistan, Qatar, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, China, Bahrain, Syria, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand, Yemen, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Lebanon and Hong Kong.