ZURICH, Sept 19: World governing body FIFA will contribute 40,000 dollars to help ease the financial burden faced by Afghanistan when they make their return to international football at the Asian Games later this month.

FIFA decided to help out the cash-strapped Afghans who will be playing in their first top level soccer tournament since 1984 when the Games get underway in Busan on Sept 28.

They have been drawn in Group E with defending champions Iran, Qatar and Lebanon after taking the place of Mongolia.

The war-torn nation’s football association, a founder of the Asian Football Confederation, was created in 1933 and became affiliated to FIFA in 1948 but years of war and civil strife has meant that no national team has figured in competition for almost twenty years.

Afghanistan will send a 24-man squad to the Games where North Korea and Palestine have also been called in as late replacements for Tajikistan and Jordan.—AFP