IC08 draw - 16 teams, 1 division, 4 pools Wednesday, July 16 2008 @ 12:52 PM EST
The Australian Football League has released the much anticipated draw for the 2008 Australian Football International Cup. The AFL had felt a two division format was most likely (effectively separated between elite and developing nations), with anywhere between 12 and 18 teams on the cards. But with the final number of teams coming in at 16, and most of them wishing to play in the main draw, a late decision was made to merge them into one division. This gives the tournament a very fair structure, with 4 pools of 4 teams, each side playing the others within their pool once, with the top team in each going through to the main semi-finals (and similarly lower finishing teams playing off against each other).
The previously alluded to Multicultural section outside the main draw has also been released, with "Team Africa" representing Melbourne's recent African immigrants and playing three matches, against each of South Africa (as a practice game for them), Tonga (unable to commit to the full draw) and "Team Asia".
The pools:
Rank Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D 1 New Zealand PNG USA Ireland 2 Samoa Great Britain South Africa Canada 3 Japan Nauru Denmark Sweden 4 India Peace Team China Finland
For more draw details go here - http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20080713184453910
AFL Price at posting:
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(20min delay)