Bangladesh will once again play Tajikistan in their World Cup prequalifiers, confirmed the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The AFC unveiled the draw for the first round of regional qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup on Monday.

Bangladesh lost both the home and away matches to the central Asian nation, who also drubbed hosts Bangladesh 6-1 in the AFC Challenge Cup in Dhaka last year.

Bangladesh will host the first leg on October 8 and make the trip to the former Soviet Union state for the away match on October 28.

AFP adds: Asian champions Iraq were unable to play at home while Afghanistan and the Palestinian team were also barred from playing home matches for security reasons, AFC tournament director and assistant general secretary Carlo Nohra told.

"We decided this after due consideration and also after discussing it with FIFA. I think the soccer authorities in Iraq understand why we made this decision," Nohra said.

"Besides Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan will also not be allowed to play their home matches in their country because of the same reason.

"We will give them time to nominate the country where they will play their home matches and give the green light after discussing it with FIFA," he said.

Iraq -- which won its first-ever Asian Cup in late July with a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia -- on Friday was seeded a lowly 12th for the World Cup qualifying tournament.

Teams like Kuwait and North Korea, who did not even qualify for the Asian Cup, were seeded higher.

"We made the seedings in accordance with the FIFA ruling and all countries under our umbrella know how the seedings are made," Nohra said.

"As such, there can be no complaints. The seedings were based on performances done in the last two years and not only this year."

The draw created a number of intriguing match-ups, with Iraq to face Pakistan, while sixth-seeded Bahrain will take on Malaysia.

The top five teams -- Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Iran -- have been given a bye into the third round.

Of the 19 teams that make it through the first round, the lowest eight battle in the second round for four spots in the third round, while the top 11 move directly into the third round.

The first home-and-away knockout round will take place on October 8 and October 28 while the second round is scheduled for November 9 and November 18.

The draw for the third round will take place in Durban, South Africa, on November 25, 2007.

In the third round, the 20 teams are split into five groups of four, with the top two from each group advancing.

The 10 remaining teams are split into two groups. The top two teams in each group qualify automatically for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

THE PAIRINGS FOR ROUND 1

1) Pakistan v Iraq

2) Uzbekistan v Taiwan

3) Thailand v Macau

4) Sri Lanka v Qatar

5) China v Myanmar

6) Bhutan v Kuwait

7) Kyrgyzstan v Jordan

8) Vietnam v UAE

9) Bahrain v Malaysia

10) East Timor v Hong Kong

11) Syria v Afghanistan

12) Yemen v Maldives

13) Bangladesh v Tajikistan

14) Mongolia v North Korea

15) Oman v Nepal

16) Palestine v Singapore

17) Lebanon v India

18) Cambodia v Turkmenistan

19) Guam v Indonesia

Match days: October 8 and 28