Twenty teams will be divided in to five qualification groups with the top two sides joining hosts Qatar, AFC Asian Cup champions Iraq, runners-up Saudi Arabia and third-place finishers Korea Republic in the finals which, for the first time, will also feature the winners of the 2008 and 2010 AFC Challenge Cups.

The qualification hopefuls have been seeded based on their results at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup and the five lowest ranked sides will be the first out of the hat on Thursday.

Pot 4, which is made up of the teams seeded 16 to 20, features Lebanon, who defeated the Maldives 6-1 on aggregate in a play-off for the 20th spot in the final round draw; AFC Challenge Cup hosts India; ASEAN champions Singapore; Yemen, and Kuwait, who have twice been Asian Cup finalists but have struggled in the international arena in recent years.

The teams seeded 11 to 15 that make up Pot 3 will be the next ones placed.

The third-ranked quintet consists of AFC Asian Cup 2007 co-hosts Malaysia; Hong Kong, hosts of the inaugural tournament in 1956; Oman; Jordan, and Syria, who will be looking to make up for the disappointment of missing out on the final round of World Cup qualifiers by one goal.

The UAE, who edged out the Syrians on the road to South Africa 2010, are in Pot 2 alongside the other teams’ seeded between six and ten.

These are AFC Cup 2007 co-hosts Thailand and Indonesia; Bahrain; and 2004 AFC Asian Cup hosts and runners-up China, who also had a forgettable World Cup qualifying campaign.

The remaining teams are those seeded one to five and they will be last to be placed in their respective qualifying groups.

Vietnam, the fourth of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup co-hosts, earned the fifth seeding for their impressive performance at last year’s continental clash and will be drawn from Pot 1, which also contains Uzbekistan, Iran, Australia and Japan, the three-time Asian champions who are also the top seeds in the qualifying round.

The draw will take place at 1200hrs Qatar time with the dates for the final qualification round matches being announced shortly by the AFC.