Taipei Times
Date: Dec 13, 2017
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter
The matches for next year’s Asia Futsal Championship were yesterday decided in Taipei, with Taiwanese officials joining an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) delegation to draw 16 national teams into four groups for the preliminary round.
“We have worked hard to bring this important sports competition to Taiwan. The two main objectives are to put us on the international stage through soccer and to let the world know more about beautiful Taiwan,” Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) chairman Lin Yung-chen said.
“Second, by hosting this tournament we can gain more support from fans, as well as from the government and corporate sponsors, so that soccer will no longer be seen as a minority sport in Taiwan,” Lin said in his welcome address.
AFC director of competitions Shin Man Gil presided over the draw, in which Taiwan — qualifying automatically as hosts of the five-a-side indoor soccer tournament — were seeded at the top with Iran, Uzbekistan and Thailand. [FULL STORY]