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With the release of the latest FIFA Ranking last Thursday, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has confirmed the seedings for all the Member Associations (MAs) that will be involved in the official draw ceremonies of the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 and Round 2 of the Asian Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup – Saudi Arabia.
A total of 46 MAs will get a clearer idea of their qualification pathways during the Round 1 and Round 2 draws, which will take place at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Thursday, July 27, 2023 at 2pm and 4pm respectively.
This is the third time that the first two rounds of Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup will also serve as the Qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup.
As there will be 48 teams – a first – at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, some changes have been made by the AFC to the qualification format, with there being eight and a half slots on offer for the Continent’s national teams. It means that the 20 lowest-ranked MAs will begin their road to the 23rd FIFA World Cup, to be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, in Round 1.
These 20 teams will be divided into ten pairings, with each pair to play one home and one away match on October 12 and 17, 2023 respectively.
The ten winners of Round 1 proceed to Round 2, where they are joined by the remaining 26 teams. These 36 sides will be drawn into nine groups of four, competing against each team in a home-and-away round-robin format, between November 2023 and June 2024.
All nine group winners and the respective runners-up will advance to the third round of World Cup qualifying, and at the same time seal their places at the 2027 AFC Asian Cup – Saudi Arabia.
The full list of seedings and Pots are as below:
Round 1
Pot 1 (ranked 27-36): Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, Maldives, Yemen, Afghanistan, Singapore, Myanmar, Nepal, Cambodia
Pot 2 (37-46): Macau, Mongolia, Bhutan, Laos, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Timor-Leste, Pakistan, Guam, Sri Lanka
Round 2
Pot 1 (1-9): Japan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Australia, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Oman
Pot 2 (10-18): Uzbekistan, China PR, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria, Vietnam, Palestine, Kyrgyz Republic, India
Pot 3 (19-27): Lebanon, Tajikistan, Thailand, DPR Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Kuwait, Turkmenistan
Pot 4: 10 winning teams from Round 1 (last remaining team during the draw will be moved to Pot 3 to ensure an equal number of teams across the Pots)
The draw for the third round of the global showpiece in 2026 will be conducted in 2024, where the 18 teams will be divided into three groups of six; the top two from each group will qualify directly for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The other two direct AFC entrants will be determined in the fourth round of World Cup qualifying, with one more possible berth available via an Intercontinental Playoff.
The other 18 teams from Round 2 will proceed directly to the third and final round of AFC Asian Cup qualifying. More details on the latter qualifying stages will be released in due course.
Meanwhile, as decided by the AFC Competitions Committee at its first meeting on July 1, 2023, Northern Mariana Islands, while not involved in Thursday’s draw, are eligible to participate in the qualifiers of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup – Saudi Arabia but not the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The Pacific Islanders could feature in the AFC Asian Cup by entering the Qualifiers Playoff Stage, where they will join the losing teams from the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 to contest for a place in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers Final Round.
