The national teams of Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka became rivals to the Turkmen football players following the results of the draw for the qualifying tournament of the 19th Asian Cup held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Golden Age electronic newspaper reports.

24 teams divided into 6 groups will compete in the qualification.

Turkmenistan and its rivals in group D.

The lineups of the others:

Group A: Tajikistan, Philippines, Maldives, East Timor

Group B: Lebanon, Yemen, Bhutan, Brunei

Group C: India, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Bangladesh

Group E: Syria, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan

Group F: Vietnam, Malaysia, Nepal, Laos

The Qualifiers will kick on March 25, 2025 with the teams to play on a home and away basis.

The winners of the groups will advance to the final part of the Asian Cup 2027.

Previously, 18 teams had already secured the right to participate in the final stage of the 2027 Asian Cup. These are the participants of the 3rd round of selection for the 2026 World Cup, the national teams of Australia, Bahrain, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, China, North Korea, the Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Palestine, Uzbekistan, Japan and Saudi Arabia (as the organizer).

It should be noted that Saudi Arabia, whose team became the Asian football champion three times (in 1984, 1988 and 1996), will host the continent's main football forum for the first time.

The Asian Football Cup is held every four years.

Turkmen football players have twice participated in the final stages of the Asian Cup. For the first time – in 2004, when the tournament was held in China, and for the second time – in 2019 in the United Arab Emirates.