South Korea will take on Malaysia, Jordan and Bahrain in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in Qatar next year, in a bid to capture their first continental football title since 1960.
In a draw held at the Katara Opera House in Doha on Thursday, South Korea ended up with those three countries in Group E.
The tournament will kick off in Qatar on Jan. 12 next year, and the final is set for Feb. 10. It will feature 24 countries divided into six groups of four. The top two countries from each group, plus the four-best third place teams, will advance to the round of 16.
South Korea claimed the first two editions of the Asian Cup in 1956 and 1960, but have not won it since. They have been runners-up four times, most recently in 2015.
Qatar are the defending champions. They knocked out South Korea in the quarterfinals of the 2019 competition in the United Arab Emirates.
This will be the 18th edition of the competition. It was originally set to kick off in China in June 2023, but the AFC announced in May last year that China wouldn't be able to host the competition because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qatar beat South Korea for the bid to host the tournament. Qatar then moved the event to the January-February 2024 window due to the high summer temperatures in the Gulf nation and Qatar's participation in the CONCACAF Gold Cup from late June to mid July this year.
Source: Yonhap News Agency