Know everything about the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification – AFC.
Table of Contents
The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC process will be starting for the Asian section for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, be held in Qatar.
The process will be involving 4 rounds from 6 June 2019 to 16 November 2021. The 2022 Men’s Soccer World Cup kicks off from 21 November to 18 December in Qatar.
The qualifying competition consists of four rounds for the Qatar World Cup tournament. Preliminary round, Qualifying group stage, and Play-offs round. The 46 FIFA-affiliated nations football teams from Asia entered the qualification round.
The matches in Round 2 will be played from 5 September 2019 through 9 June 2020. Here we are sharing the list of the qualification teams & the Schedule of matches. All the qualified teams were divided into three different groups as per their FIFA rank.
2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification Teams
First-round(ranked 35–46): 12 teams
- Malaysia (168)
- Cambodia (173)
- Macau (183)
- Laos (184)
- Bhutan (186)
- Mongolia (187)
- Bangladesh (188)
- Guam (193)
- Brunei (194)
- Timor-Leste (195)
- Pakistan (200)
- Sri Lanka (202)
Second round(ranked 1–34 and six first-round winners): 40 teams
| Iran (21) Japan (26) South Korea (37) Australia (41) Qatar (55) United Arab Emirates (67) Saudi Arabia (72) China PR (74) Iraq (76) | India (101) Bahrain (111) Thailand (114) Tajikistan (120) North Korea (121) Philippines (124) Chinese Taipei (125) Turkmenistan (136) Myanmar (140) |
| Syria (83) Uzbekistan (85) Lebanon (86) Oman (86) Kyrgyzstan (95) Jordan (97) Vietnam (98) Palestine (99) | Hong Kong (141) Yemen (146) Afghanistan (149) Maldives (151) Kuwait (156) Indonesia (159) Singapore (160) Nepal (161) |
- Third round: 12 teams
- 12 teams are divided into two groups
- Malaysia (168)
- Cambodia (173)
- Macau (183)
- Laos (184)
- Bhutan (186)
- Mongolia (187)
- Bangladesh (188)
- Guam (193)
- Brunei (194)
- Timor-Leste (195)
- Pakistan (200)
- Sri Lanka (202)
- The group winners and four best runners-up (12 teams in total) will advance to the third round of Asian World Cup qualifying.
- 12 teams are divided into two groups
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC | Date Schedule
First-round
- First leg- 6 June 2019
- Second leg- 11 June 2019
Second round
- Matchday 1 – (5th September 2019)
- Matchday 2 – (10 September 2019)
- Matchday 3 – (10 October 2019)
- Matchday 4 – (15 October 2019)
- Matchday 5 – (14 November 2019)
- Matchday 6 – (19 November 2019)
- Matchday 7 – (25 March, 28 May, and 3 June 2021 )
- Matchday 8 – (4 December 2020, 30 March, and 7 & 9 June 2021)
- Matchday 9 – (30 March, 30 May, and 11 June 2021)
- Matchday 10 -( 13 and 15 June 2021)
Third round
- Matchday 1 – (2 September 2021)
- Matchday 2 – (7 September 2021)
- Matchday 3 – (7 October 2021)
- Matchday 4 – (12 November 2021)
- Matchday 5 – (11 November 2021)
- Matchday 6 – (16 November 2021)
- Matchday 7 – (27 January 2022)
- Matchday 8 – (1 February 2022)
- Matchday 9 – (24 March 2022)
- Matchday 10 – (29 March 2022)
Fourth round
- First leg – 11 November 2021
- Second leg – 16 November 2021
Groups
Group A: China, Syria, Philippines, Maldives, Guam.
Group B: Australia, Jordan, Chinese Tapei, Kuti, and Nepal.
Group C: Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Cambodia
Group D: Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Palestine, Yemen, Singapore
Group E: Bangladesh, Oman, India, Afghanistan, Qatar
Group F: Japan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Mongolia
Group E: UAE, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia
Group F: South Korea, Lebanon, DPR Korea, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka
First-round
This first round was drawn out in 2019, at the AFC House, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur).
| Team | Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mongolia | 3-2 | Brunei | 2-0 | 1-2 |
| Macau | 1-3 | Sri Lanka | 1-0 | 0-3 |
| Laos | 0-1 | Bangladesh | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| Malaysia | 12-2 | Timor-Leste | 7-1 | 5-1 |
| Cambodia | 4-1 | Pakistan | 2-0 | 2-1 |
| Bhutan | 1-5 | Guam | 1-0 | 0-5 |
Second-Round
This Second round was drawn out in 2019, at the AFC House, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur).
List of the Qualified for the third round and Asian Cup (except China) as a winner or top five runners-up.
- Group A: Syria, China PR
- Group B: Australia
- Group C: Iran, Iraq
- Group D: Saudi Arabia
- Group E: Qatar (Asian Cup only), Oman
- Group F: Japan
- Group G: United Arab Emirates, Vietnam
- Group H: South Korea, Lebanon.
List of the Advanced to the Asian Cup third qualifying rounds as bottom three runners-up, third-placed, fourth-placed, and top three fifth-place team
- Group A: Philippines, Maldives
- Group B: Kuwait, Jordan, Nepal
- Group C: Bahrain, Hong Kong
- Group D: Uzbekistan, Palestine, Singapore, Yemen
- Group E: India, Afganistan, Bangladesh
- Group F: Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar
- Group G: Malaysia, Thailand
- Group H: Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka
List of Advanced to the AFC Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
- Group A: Guam
- Group B: Chinese Taipei
- Group C: Cambodia
- Group D: N/A
- Group E: N/A
- Group F: N/A
- Group G: Indonesia
- Group H: N/A
List of Denotes a team that was eliminated as a result of withdrawal.
- Group H: North Korea
Third Round
This is the third round, and it consists of two groups with six teams those teams are in the first two-position they will be directly qualified for the world cup and other teams will be going for the 4th round.
Group A
| P |
Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iran | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 25 |
| 2 | South Korea | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 23 |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 12 |
| 4 | Iraq | 10 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 9 |
| 5 | Syria | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 16 | -7 | 6 |
| 6 | Lebanon | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 13 | -8 | 6 |
Group B
| P |
Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 23 |
| 2 | Japan | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 22 |
| 3 | Australia | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 15 |
| 4 | Oman | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 14 |
| 5 | China PR | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 19 | -10 | 6 |
| 6 | Vietnam | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 19 | -11 | 4 |
Fourth Round
In this round, only two teams will be qualified. The 2 third-place teams in each group from the third round will play against each other.
| Team 1 | Date | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | 7th June | Australia |
Inter-confederation play-off
The draw held on 26 November 2021. In this play off third place team from AFC was drawn against the fifth placed team from CONMEBOL.
| Team 1 | Date | Team 2 |
| AFC Fourth Round winner | 13–14 Jun | CONMEBOL 5th place |
Qualified Teams
The following teams qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification from AFC Schedule.
| Teams | Qualified As | Qualified On | Previous performance |
| Qatar | Hosts | 2 Dec 2010 | 0 (debut) |
| Iran | Third round Group A winner | 27 January 2022 | 5 (1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018) |
| South Korea | Third round Group A runners-up | 1 February 2022 | 10 (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018) |
| Japan | Third round Group B runners-up | 24 March 2022 | 6 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018) |
| Saudi Arabia | Third round Group B winners | 24 March 2022 | 5 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018) |
Top Goal Scorers
- Ali Mabkhout – UAE – 14 Goals
- Wu Lei – China – 12 Goals
- Sardar Azmoun (Iran), Yuya Osako (Japan), Takumi Minamino (Japan), Omar Al Somah (Syria) – 9 Goals
Top Goal Scorers
- Ali Mabkhout – UAE – 14 Goals
- Wu Lei – China – 12 Goals
- Sardar Azmoun (Iran), Yuya Osako (Japan), Takumi Minamino (Japan), Omar Al Somah (Syria) – 9 Goals
With group winners and four best second places would it be a good idea to post group standings as the games are played so we know what chances our teams have.