AFC U-23 Championship Group B qualifiers dates finally set

AMMAN — Group B qualifiers for the 2016 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship in Qatar have finally been set for May 16-24 in the United Arab Emirates.

The AFC announced that Group B qualifying matches, which include Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan, will be held at Al Qattara Stadium in Al Ain.

The qualifiers had been set to take place at Lahore’s Punjab Stadium starting March 23 but were postponed due to security concerns. They were again set to start on April 2 but were indefinitely postponed prompting the Jordan Football Association (JFA) to restart the Jordan Professional League and local matches as the date was still not set.

The winners of Groups A, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J have been determined and along with the winners of Group B and five best second-placed teams from all groups will join hosts Qatar, with the 16-team competition also serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“We hope clubs understand the Jordan Football Association’s situation. We tried our best to be fair to the local agenda while giving the U-23 squad all means to be ready for the qualifiers,” JFA secretary General Fadi Zureiqat told the media after announcing the League’s resumption. 

In preparation for the U-23 Group B qualifiers, Jordan just concluded two training camps beating Bahrain 2-1 and Bseiteen Club 1-0. They also had a training camp in the UAE, where they lost to Iraq 2-1, and beat North Korea 3-1 and drew 2-2.