Malaysia to host India's AFC Challenge Cup qualifier group

The hosts for the four qualifying groups of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup were confirmed by the AFC yesterday.

India is said to have been interested to host the Group B qualifying of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, but due to Pakistan being in the same group the continental body played it safe and is hosting it in the country that it is based in - Malaysia. So Kuala Lumpur will play hosts to Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan and Chinese Taipei over the match days March 21, 23 and 25.

Group A will be hosted in Yangon by Myanmar. The teams in this group are: Myanmar, Bangladesh, Palestine, and the winners of the pre-qualification match between Mongolia and the Philippines (second leg) on 15 March (The Philippines won the first leg 2-0). The match days are 21, 23 and 25 March.

Group C will be hosted by Maldives in Male. The teams are: Maldives, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Cambodia. The match days are March 21, 23 and 25.

Group D will be played in Kathmandu, Nepal. The teams are: Nepal, 2010 champions North Korea, Sri Lanka, and the winners of the pre-qualification match between Bhutan and Afghanistan (March 23 and 25). The match days are April 7, 9 and 11.

Two teams from each group qualify for the eight team finals. The hosts of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup will only be decided by the AFC once all the qualifiers are decided and one of these nations would host the tournament.