The final round of the last matchday of the second round for the joint qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup concluded yesterday, Tuesday, completing the list of teams qualifying for the decisive third round. A total of 18 teams secured their place in the third round, including nine Arab teams: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Iran, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Australia, China, and Kyrgyzstan. These 18 teams have also secured their spots in the 2027 Asian Cup, which will be held in Saudi Arabia.
The Asian Football Confederation has set the draw date for the decisive third round of the World Cup qualifiers for Asian nations on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
According to the qualification system, in the third round, the 18 teams that qualified from the second round will be distributed into three groups, each comprising six teams. These teams will compete against each other in home and away matches from September 2024 until June 2025, with the top two teams from each group qualifying directly for the 2026 World Cup, which will feature 48 teams from around the world instead of the previous 32.
Asia's quota for the expanded World Cup has increased, with eight direct spots allocated, potentially rising to nine with a spot in the playoff, enhancing the historic chances for many teams to qualify for the first time. Following the completion of the third round (where six teams are guaranteed qualification), the fourth round will feature six teams, which will be the third and fourth-placed teams in the groups from the third round, divided into two groups of three teams each.
The group matches of the fourth round will take place between October and November 2025, with the top teams from each group qualifying directly for the World Cup, while the second-placed teams in each group will face each other in a single playoff match, with the winner advancing to the continental playoff.
