How to qualify for FIFA World Cup 2026 in Asia? – AFC qualification third round format explained
How to qualify for FIFA World Cup 2026 in Asia? – AFC qualification third round format explained
The third round of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) World Cup Qualifiers is set to resume from Thursday, March 20.
With plenty at stake for all the teams in the third round, teams would be gearing up to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in USA, Mexico and Canada.
The third round of the AFC World Cup qualifiers began on September 5, 2024 and ends on 10 June, 2025.
The eighteen teams that advanced from the second round (nine group winners and nine group runners-up) will be divided into three groups of six teams.
The teams will play against each other on a home-and-away basis (five home and five away games in total).
The top two teams of each group will qualify directly for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while the third and fourth-placed teams will advance to the fourth round.
Here are the teams qualified for the third round:
Iran, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea.
South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait and Palestine.
Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and China.
