ZURICH, Switzerland — Afghanistan, the Philippines and Thailand have been added to the Asian qualifying rounds for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013 to round-off a historic 16-team event. At the original draw, 13 teams were drawn into four groups for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 — AFC qualifiers. But after several national member associations asked for additional time to complete their application to the competition, registration remained open following the original draw to accommodate such high-level of interest from Asian countries to participate in the qualifiers. The qualifiers will be held at Katara Beach in Doha, Qatar, from Jan. 22 to 26. The draw for the additional three teams was held at FIFA's Headquarters in Zurich Monday. Joan Cusco, FIFA Beach Soccer CEO and FIFA Beach Soccer Committee Member, and Jaime Yarza, FIFA Senior Manager Beach Soccer Competitions, were on hand to draw the additional teams for the Asian qualifiers. Following the addition of the three teams, Nasser Al-Khater, Vice Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, said: “We are extremely pleased that Qatar is hosting the largest-ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 - AFC qualifiers. I look forward to an exciting and enjoyable event and wish the best of luck to all the participating teams.” Eleven teams participated in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2011 – AFC qualifiers. A state-of-the-art, 3,000 capacity temporary stadium will be built on the shore for the event. Spectators can attend all matches free of charge and a small fan zone will also be set up adjacent to the stadium. Qatar, Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, Japan (2011 AFC Beach Soccer champion), Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan will compete in the qualifiers. The first place teams from each group advance to the semifinals. The two finalists and the third place, play-off winner will earn qualification to the seventh edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, which will take place from Sept. 18 to 28, 2013 at Toata Stadium (Stade de Toata) in Papeete, on the Pacific island of Tahiti.
