As a result of its dramatic fall in the FIFA rankings and an unfavorable rule change, South Korea has failed to receive one of the top four seeds at an upcoming continental tournament, said the event’s organizers.
The Asian Football Confederation announced on its website the seeds for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, which will kick off on Jan. 9 in Australia.
The AFC said 16 countries will be divided into four groups of four, and their seeds were based on the latest FIFA rankings announced last week.
South Korea moved up a spot to No. 60 in the March rankings, the fourth-best position for an AFC-member state.
In the AFC draw, however, Australia earned the automatic top seed as the host, despite being the sixth-best AFC country at 63rd, and was joined in Pot 1 by the top three-ranked countries from Asia in the first pot.
They were Iran (42nd), Japan (48th) and Uzbekistan (55th). South Korea ended up in Pot 2 along with United Arab Emirates (61st), Jordan (66th) and Saudi Arabia (75th).
Oman, China, Qatar and Iraq were put in Pot 3.
The fourth and last pot had Bahrain, Kuwait and North Korea, with the last spot going to the winner of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup tournament scheduled for May.
The draw will be held on March 26 at the Sydney Opera House.
One country each from the four pots will make up a group. Under these arrangements, South Korea will end up in a tougher draw than it would have if it had been among the top four seeds.
The AFC altered its seeding mechanism for its signature tournament to follow the procedure for the FIFA World Cup, and South Korea got the short end of the stick.
At earlier Asian Cups, the host nation had earned the top seed, with the top three finishers from the previous tournament getting the next three seeds.
South Korea finished third at the 2011 Asian Cup held in Qatar and would have ended up in Pot 1 for the 2015 tournament if the AFC had not modified its seeding system. South Korea was in 38th place in January 2013 but fell precipitously to No. 60 for March this year, on a string of huge losses and underwhelming draws over that stretch.
Though South Korea remains a force in Asian football, having qualified for its eighth consecutive World Cup, its last Asian Cup championship came in 1960, when the quadrennial tournament was held at home. (Yonhap)
