Ulaanbaatar City FC Learns Potential AFC Cup Path
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On 10 December 2019 Ulaanbaatar City FC learned its first-ever AFC Cup opponent and possible route to the group stage as the draw was held at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Ulaanbaatar City will enter qualification in Preliminary Round 2. The club will face the runners-up of the Taiwan Football Premier League Taipower FC.
UB City will open the two-leg series at home on February 5 before playing the return leg at the National Stadium in Kaohsiung seven days later.
If the Mongolian champions advance to the Play-off Round, their opponent is already known as Kitchee SC of Hong Kong earned the automatic bye to that round. Kitchee finished the 2018-19 Hong Kong Premier League season in fourth place but qualified for the competition as winners of the 2018-19 Hong Kong FA Cup.
The winners of this two-match series will advance to the group stage. If the Ulaanbaatar club is successful, they will become only the second-ever team from Mongolia to reach that round and first to actually earn it after Erchim FC was gifted a spot in 2017 after Nepal's Three Star Club failed to register before the deadline.
Ulaanbaatar City will be anxious for the opportunity to face Kitchee which has been struggling in their league in 2019-2020. At almost the half-way point of the season, they sit in fifth position and have no scorer in the league's Top 15 chart.