The draw was announced at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, with the Australians handed a place in Group B.

Compared to some of the other groups, Australia's appears tough, but head coach of the Under-23s, Aurelio Vidmar, is still looking forward to the challenge.

"It's tough. A challenge," Vidmar said. "But all the groups are hard so that's the way it is and now we'll see how we go."

Vidmar outlined the process he will undergo in the next week, in conjunction with the Football Federation of Australia, and said that the squads of players are likely to be predominately local-based.

"The first thing we will do is have a look at the DVDs of the teams from the last round of qualifiers to start our preparation process," he said.

"As the matches are not on FIFA dates, our team will be heavily weighted with Hyundai A-League players, but we will try our hardest to get overseas-based players released too.

"We will certainly do our best to get the strongest possible squad for every match."

He added: "In the next week we will also sit down with FFA management and map out our campaign schedule which will include training camps and where we will play our home matches."

The winner of each of the three groups will win a place in the London Games, with Asia given 3.5 places in the tournament.

The best second-placed team will then play off against representatives of the Central African Federation for the final spot from Asia.