Chonburi: The path to the AFC U-19 Women's Championship Thailand 2019 title will become clearer for Asia's women's football stars of the future, with the competition's official draw to be held on Thursday.
The ceremony, to be staged at Chonburi's Oakwood Hotel, will split the Continent's eight best U-19 women's national teams into two groups of four ahead of the Finals, which will be held in Thailand for the first time.
As hosts, Thailand qualified for the Finals automatically, while DPR Korea, China PR and defending champions Japan also bypassed the qualifying tournament after finishing as the top three teams in the 2017 edition.
The four remaining teams - Australia, Korea Republic, Vietnam and Myanmar - began their qualifying campaigns in October 2018, and survived two stages of matches before securing their tickets to the Finals last month.
As respective hosts and holders, Thailand and Japan have been placed in Pot 1, with DPR Korea and China PR in Pot 2.
Australia and Korea Republic have been placed in Pot 3 as qualifying group winners, while Vietnam and Myanmar complete the field in Pot 4.
As five-time champions, Japan are the most successful nation in the tournament's history, and enter this year's competition - which begins on October 27 - defending the rare honour of being reigning Asian and world champions at this age group after they successfully won the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in France.
The AFC U-19 Women's Championship Thailand 2019 draw will commence at 16:30 local time and can be watched at the link above.
Source: the-afc.com