Maldives has travelled to the final round of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifications.

Maldives tied with Philippines 1 – 1 in its final match of the joint qualifying round of the FIFA World Cup 2022 – AFC Asian Cup 2023, held on Tuesday.

With this Maldives landed the fourth spot in the qualifiers with six points from eight matches played. While Guam remains at the bottom with zero points, the group is led by Syria with 21 points from seven matches played. China follows closely behind with 19 points from eight matches played and Philippines remains in the third spot with 11 points from eight matches played.

Earlier it was predicted that Maldives would have to compete in the playoffs to enter the group stage of the Asian Cup qualifiers if the team ties with Philippines.

However, AFC revealed on Wednesday that the points of the teams in the bottom of the group tables as well as those in fourth would not count after the South Korean team left the qualifying, paving way for the Qatari team to qualify for the Asian Cup.

Following this the rankings were listed and changes were made, paving way for several countries to secure a spot in the final round of the qualifiers, including Maldives. Other countries that came fourth include Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Taking to Twitter following the narrow success, Football Association of Maldives (FAM)’s President, Bassam Adeel Jaleel congratulated the team, players, the technical team as well as the management and medical officials of the Maldives National Football Team.

Bassam added that the draw for the qualifiers is most likely to be taken in October 2021.

Currently, six groups are included in the final round of the Asian Cup qualifiers and each group includes four competing teams. Two teams from each of the six groups will qualify for the Asian Cup 2023.