2026 FIFA World Cup AFC Qualification- Asia Qualifiers

2026 FIFA World Cup AFC Qualification- Asia Qualifiers

The 2026 FIFA World Cup AFC Qualification process has stared for the Asian Football Teams for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America.  In the 2026 FIFA World Cup AFC Qualification, 36 Asian Teams are playing for qualification.

The process will involve Five rounds from 12 October 2023 to November 2025. The 2026 Men’s Soccer World Cup kicks off from Thu, 11 Jun 2026 to Sun, 19 Jul 2026. It will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three North American countries: Canada, Mexico, and the US.

The qualifying competition consists of 5 rounds for the FIFA World Cup 26 tournament. All 46 FIFA-affiliated nations football teams from Asia entered the FIFA World Cup 26 and the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. Preliminary round, Qualifying group stage, and Play-offs 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 groups per their FIFA rank.

2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification

The format of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification for the AFC is divided into 5 different phases.

AFC First Round:

20 national teams will play home and away. All teams from Ranked 27 to 46.

POT 1 (27 to 36)	POT 2 (37 to 46)
Hong Kong (149)  Indonesia (150)  Chinese Taipei (153)  Maldives (155)  Yemen (156)  Afghanistan (157)  Singapore (158)  Myanmar (160)  Nepal (175) Cambodia (176)	Macau (182) Mongolia (183) Bhutan (185) Laos (187) Bangladesh (189) Brunei (190) East Timor (192) Pakistan (201) Guam (203) Sri Lanka (204)

Second round:

In this POT, 36 national teams will play home and away. All the teams come from 1 to 26 ranked and 10 teams will play from the first-round winners.

Group B

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Japan	6	6	0	0	24	0	+24	18
2	North Korea	6	3	0	3	11	7	+4	9
3	Syria	6	2	1	3	9	12	−3	7
4	Myanmar	6	0	1	5	3	28	−25	1

• World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup: Japan and North Korea
• Asian Cup qualifying third round: Syria and Myanmar

Group C

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	South Korea	6	5	1	0	20	1	+19	16
2	China	6	2	2	2	9	9	0	8
3	Thailand	6	2	2	2	9	9	0	8
4	Singapore	6	0	1	5	5	24	−19	1

• World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup: South Korea and China
• Asian Cup qualifying third round:  Thailand and Singapore

Group D

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Oman	6	4	1	1	11	2	+9	13
2	Kyrgyzstan	6	3	2	1	13	7	+6	11
3	Malaysia	6	3	1	2	9	9	0	10
4	Chinese Taipei	6	0	0	6	2	17	−15	0

• World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup: Oman and Kyrgyzstan
• Asian Cup qualifying third round:  Malaysia and  Chinese Taipei

Group E

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Iran	6	4	2	0	16	4	+12	14
2	Uzbekistan	6	4	2	0	13	4	+9	14
3	Turkmenistan	6	0	2	4	4	14	−10	2
4	Hong Kong	6	0	2	4	4	15	−11	2

• World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup: Iran and Uzbekistan
• Asian Cup qualifying third round:  Turkmenistan and Hong Kong

Group F

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Iraq	6	6	0	0	17	2	+15	18
2	Indonesia	6	3	1	2	8	8	0	10
3	Vietnam	6	2	0	4	6	10	−4	6
4	Philippines	6	0	1	5	3	14	−11	1

• World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup: Iraq and Indonesia
• Asian Cup qualifying third round:  Vietnam and Philippines

Group G

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Jordan	6	4	1	1	16	4	+12	13
2	Saudi Arabia	6	4	1	1	12	3	+9	13
3	Tajikistan	6	2	2	2	11	7	+4	8
4	Pakistan	6	0	0	6	1	26	−25	0

• World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup: Jordan
• World Cup qualifying third round: Saudi Arabia
• Asian Cup qualifying third round:  Tajikistan and Pakistan

Group H

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	UAE	6	5	1	0	16	2	+14	16
2	Bahrain	6	3	2	1	11	3	+8	11
3	Yemen	6	1	2	3	5	9	−4	5
4	Nepal	6	0	1	5	2	20	−18	1

• World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup: UAE and Bahrain
• Asian Cup qualifying third round: Yemen and Nepal

Group I

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Australia	6	6	0	0	22	0	+22	18
2	Palestine	6	2	2	2	6	6	0	8
3	Lebanon	6	1	3	2	5	8	−3	6
4	Bangladesh	6	0	1	5	1	20	−19	1

• World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup: Australia and Palestine
• Asian Cup qualifying third round: Lebanon and Bangladesh

Third round:

The winner of the 2nd POT 18 teams will enter the Third Round. All 18 teams are divided into 3 groups and every group holds 6 teams.

Group A

P	Teams	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Uzbekistan	2	2	0	0	4	2	+2	6
2	Iran	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2	6
3	UAE	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3
4	North Korea	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1
5	Qatar	2	0	1	1	3	5	−2	1
6	Kyrgyzstan	2	0	0	2	2	4	−2	0

• Qualification for 2026 FIFA World Cup: Uzbekistan
• Qualification for Fourth round: Iran