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Countdown boards for the 2018 Asian Games are seen past traffic at the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Jakarta as preparations continue in Indonesia. Photo: AFP

Asian Games 2018 football plans descend into farce as it ditches redraw plan and decides to add omitted teams

Organisers scrap plan to redraw and will now add the missing teams to two of the original groups

The Asian Games will not redraw the men’s football tournament after two countries were left out of the first draw but will instead fit the United Arab Emirates and Palestine into two of the original groups, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Wednesday.

A new draw was set to take place at the Asian Football Confederation headquarters in Malaysia later on Wednesday but that plan had been scrapped following the AFC’s meeting with Games organisers and the Olympic Council of Asia, the KFA added.

With the addition of the two teams, two of the six groups will contain five sides, while the remaining four groups will each have four teams.

The KFA said fixtures would be announced once the UAE and Palestine were sorted into their groups.

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