KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4: A total of 42 countries, including automatic qualifiers — hosts China and defending champions Japan — have confirmed their participation in the 2004 Asian Cup football tournament.

The draw for the tournament is scheduled in Beijing Saturday, according to Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Apart from Iran, the top seeded teams in Category A are South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, followed by Category B teams — Kuwait, Thailand, Bahrain, Indonesia, Lebanon, Oman and Syria.

Malaysian has been placed in Group C alongwith Turkemenistan, Vietnam, Tajikistan, Yemen, Jordan and Palestine.

There are 19 teams in Category D but only seven will qualify from this group for the qualifying rounds and the countries are Singapore, India, Laos, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Brunei, Pakistan, Macau, Guam, Taiwan, Mongolia, Bhutan, North Korea, East Timor.—PPI