2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

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2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
Tournament details
Dates6 June 2019 – 7 June 2022
Teams46[note 1] (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played229
Goals scored676 (2.95 per match)
Attendance2,332,162 (10,184 per match)
Top scorer(s)United Arab Emirates Ali Mabkhout
(14 goals)
2018
2026

The Asian section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar for national teams who are members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Apart from Qatar (who qualified automatically as hosts), a total of 4.5 slots (4 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament were available for AFC teams.[1]

The qualification process involved four rounds; the first two doubled as the qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Despite qualifying as hosts, Qatar participated in these rounds to seek Asian Cup qualification. The first round would have acted as qualifiers for the cancelled 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup.[2]

Format[edit]

The qualification structure is as follows:[3]

  • First round: 12 teams (ranked 35–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
  • Second round: 40 teams (ranked 1–34 and six first-round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up advanced to the third round. Since Qatar won their group, the fifth-best runners-up took their place in the third round.[4]
  • Third round: 12 teams which advanced from the second round were divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group qualified for the World Cup, and the third-placed teams advanced to the fourth round.
  • Fourth round: Two third-placed teams from the third round played a single match. The winner advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Entrants[edit]

All 46 FIFA-affiliated nations from the AFC entered qualification. The FIFA World Rankings of April 2019 were used to determine which nations would compete in the first round. For seeding in the second round and third round draws, the most recent FIFA Rankings prior to those draws will be used.

According to the joint format of the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers, both Qatar (as the host nation of the 2022 World Cup) and also entered the second round of the qualifiers.[5]

Timor-Leste was banned from participating in the Asian Cup qualification after being found to have fielded a total of 12 ineligible players in 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches among other competitions.[6] However, as FIFA did not ban them from the World Cup qualifiers, Timor-Leste was allowed to enter the competition, but ineligible to qualify for the Asian Cup.[7]

From the April 2019 FIFA World Rankings[8]
Bye to the second round
(Ranked 1st to 34th)
Competing in first round
(Ranked 35th to 46th)
  1.  Iran (21)
  2.  Japan (26)
  3.  South Korea (37)
  4.  Australia (41)
  5.  Qatar (55)
  6.  United Arab Emirates (67)
  7.  Saudi Arabia (72)
  8.  China (74)
  9.  Iraq (76)
  10.  Syria (83)
  11.  Uzbekistan (85)
  12.  Lebanon (86)
  13.  Oman (86)
  14.  Kyrgyzstan (95)
  15.  Jordan (97)
  16.  Vietnam (98)
  17.  Palestine (96)
  18.  India (99)
  19.  Bahrain (111)
  20.  Thailand (114)
  21.  Tajikistan (120)
  22.  North Korea (121)
  23.  Philippines (124)
  24.  Chinese Taipei (125)
  25.  Turkmenistan (136)
  26.  Myanmar (140)
  27.  Hong Kong (141)
  28.  Yemen (146)
  29.  Afghanistan (149)
  30.  Maldives (151)
  31.  Kuwait (156)
  32.  Indonesia (159)
  33.  Singapore (160)
  34.    Nepal (161)
  1.  Malaysia (168)
  2.  Cambodia (173)
  3.  Macau (183)
  4.  Laos (184)
  5.  Bhutan (186)
  6.  Mongolia (187)
  7.  Bangladesh (188)
  8.  Guam (193)
  9.  Brunei (194)
  10.  East Timor (195)
  11.  Pakistan (200)
  12.  Sri Lanka (202)

Schedule[edit]

The schedule of the competition is expected to be as follows, according to the FIFA International Match Calendar.[9][10][11][12][13]

On 9 March 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that the second round matches on matchdays 7–10 due to take place in March and June 2020 were postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the new dates to be confirmed. However, subject to approval by FIFA and AFC, and agreement of both member associations, the matches may be played as scheduled provided that the safety of all individuals involved meets the required standards.[14][15] On 5 June, AFC confirmed that matchdays 7 and 8 were scheduled to take place on 8 and 13 October respectively while matchdays 9 and 10 were also scheduled to kick off on 12 and 17 November.[16] On 12 August, FIFA announced that the matches scheduled for October and November 2020 would be rescheduled to 2021.[17]

On 25 June 2020, FIFA announced that the inter-confederation play-offs, originally scheduled to be played in March 2022, were moved to June.[18]

On 11 November 2020, the AFC Competitions Committee announced that all the Asian qualifiers second round matches should be completed by 15 June 2021 with matchdays 7 and 8 in March 2021 and matchdays 9 and 10 in June 2021 with the final round of the Asian qualifiers beginning in September 2021. Also all 10 matchdays of the Asian qualifiers final round should be finished by the end of March 2022 with the Asian and inter-continental play-offs proposed for the FIFA window of May/June 2022. The Asian play-off for the World Cup in Qatar was proposed as a single match.[19] On the same day, however, FIFA, along with the Bangladeshi and Qatari associations, gave approval to the only second round match originally scheduled for 2020, Qatar v. Bangladesh, which was played on 4 December.[20]

On 19 February 2021, FIFA and AFC postponed the majority of the upcoming matches to June.[21]

Round Matchday Date(s)
First round First leg 6 June 2019
Second leg 11 June 2019
Second round Matchday 1 5 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
Round Matchday Date
Third round Matchday 1 2 September 2021
Matchday 2 7 September 2021
Matchday 3 7 October 2021
Matchday 4 12 October 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 Single leg 7 June 2022
Original qualifying schedule
Stage Matchday Date
Second round Matchday 7 26 March 2020, later 8 October
Matchday 8 31 March 2020, later 13 October
Matchday 9 4 June 2020, later 12 November, then 7 June 2021
Matchday 10 9 June 2020, later 17 November
Third round Matchday 1 3 September 2020
Matchday 2 8 September 2020
Matchday 3 13 October 2020
Matchday 4 12 November 2020
Matchday 5 17 November 2020
Matchday 6 25 March 2021
Matchday 7 30 March 2021
Matchday 8 8 June 2021
Matchday 9 7 September 2021
Matchday 10 12 October 2021
Fourth round First leg 11 November 2021
Second leg 16 November 2021

First round[edit]

The draw for the first round was held on 17 April 2019 at 11:00 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[22]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip 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 (awd.)[note 2]
Laos  0–1  Bangladesh 0–1 0–0
Malaysia  12–2  East Timor 7–1 5–1
Cambodia  4–1  Pakistan 2–0 2–1
Bhutan  1–5  Guam 1–0 0–5

Second round[edit]

The draw for the second round was held on 17 July 2019 at 17:00 MST (UTC+8), at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[25]

Summary[edit]

  Qualified for the third round (except Qatar) and Asian Cup as winners or top five runners-up
  Advanced to the Asian Cup third qualifying round as bottom three runners-up, third-placed, fourth-placed and top three fifth-placed team
  Advanced to the AFC Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
  Denotes a team that withdrew.
Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H

Syria

China

Australia

Iran

Iraq

Saudi Arabia

Qatar
(Asian Cup only)

Oman

Japan

United Arab Emirates

Vietnam

South Korea

Lebanon

Philippines

Maldives

Kuwait

Jordan

Nepal

Bahrain

Hong Kong

Uzbekistan

Palestine

Singapore

Yemen

India

Afghanistan

Bangladesh

Tajikistan

Kyrgyzstan

Mongolia

Myanmar

Malaysia

Thailand

Turkmenistan

Sri Lanka

Guam

Chinese Taipei

Cambodia

Indonesia

North Korea

Group A[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Syria 8 7 0 1 22 7 +15 21 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup 2–1 1–0 2–1 4–0
2  China[a] 8 6 1 1 30 3 +27 19 3–1 2–0 5–0 7–0
3  Philippines 8 3 2 3 12 11 +1 11 Asian Cup qualifying third round 2–5 0–0 1–1 3–0
4  Maldives 8 2 1 5 7 20 −13 7 0–4 0–5 1–2 3–1
5  Guam 8 0 0 8 2 32 −30 0 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–3 0–7 1–4 0–1
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ China qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation. They withdrew their hosting right in May 2022.

Group B[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Australia 8 8 0 0 28 2 +26 24 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup 3–0 1–0 5–0 5–1
2  Kuwait 8 4 2 2 19 7 +12 14 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–3 0–0 7–0 9–0
3  Jordan 8 4 2 2 13 3 +10 14 0–1 0–0 3–0 5–0
4    Nepal 8 2 0 6 4 22 −18 6 0–3 0–1 0–3 2–0
5  Chinese Taipei 8 0 0 8 4 34 −30 0 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 1–7 1–2 1–2 0–2
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Group C[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Iran 8 6 0 2 34 4 +30 18 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup 1–0 3–0 3–1 14–0
2  Iraq 8 5 2 1 14 4 +10 17 2–1 0–0 2–0 4–1
3  Bahrain 8 4 3 1 15 4 +11 15 Asian Cup qualifying third round 1–0 1–1 4–0 8–0
4  Hong Kong 8 1 2 5 4 13 −9 5 0–2 0–1 0–0 2–0
5  Cambodia 8 0 1 7 2 44 −42 1 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–10 0–4 0–1 1–1
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Group D[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Saudi Arabia 8 6 2 0 22 4 +18 20 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup 3–0 5–0 3–0 3–0
2  Uzbekistan 8 5 0 3 18 9 +9 15 Asian Cup qualifying third round 2–3 2–0 5–0 5–0
3  Palestine 8 3 1 4 10 10 0 10 0–0 2–0 4–0 3–0
4  Singapore 8 2 1 5 7 22 −15 7 0–3 1–3 2–1 2–2
5  Yemen 8 1 2 5 6 18 −12 5 2–2 0–1 1–0 1–2
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Group E[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Qatar[a] 8 7 1 0 18 1 +17 22 Asian Cup 2–1 0–0 6–0 5–0
2  Oman 8 6 0 2 16 6 +10 18 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup 0–1 1–0 3–0 4–1
3  India 8 1 4 3 6 7 −1 7 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–1 1–2 1–1 1–1
4  Afghanistan 8 1 3 4 5 15 −10 6 0–1 1–2 1–1 1–0
5  Bangladesh 8 0 2 6 3 19 −16 2 0–2 0–3 0–2 1–1
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ Qatar has already qualified for the World Cup as the host nation.

Group F[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Japan 8 8 0 0 46 2 +44 24 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup 4–1 5–1 6–0 10–0
2  Tajikistan 8 4 1 3 14 12 +2 13 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–3 1–0 3–0 4–0
3  Kyrgyzstan 8 3 1 4 19 12 +7 10 0–2 1–1 0–1 7–0
4  Mongolia 8 2 0 6 3 27 −24 6 0–14 0–1 1–2 1–0
5  Myanmar 8 2 0 6 6 35 −29 6 0–2 4–3 1–8 1–0
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Group G[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United Arab Emirates 8 6 0 2 23 7 +16 18 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup 3–2 4–0 3–1 5–0
2  Vietnam 8 5 2 1 13 5 +8 17 1–0 1–0 0–0 4–0
3  Malaysia 8 4 0 4 10 12 −2 12 Asian Cup qualifying third round 1–2 1–2 2–1 2–0
4  Thailand 8 2 3 3 9 9 0 9 2–1 0–0 0–1 2–2
5  Indonesia 8 0 1 7 5 27 −22 1 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–5 1–3 2–3 0–3
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Group H[edit]

North Korea withdrew from the qualifying round due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore the results of their matches were excluded from the group standings.[26][27]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  South Korea 6 5 1 0 22 1 +21 16 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup 2–1 5–0 8–0 Canc.
2  Lebanon 6 3 1 2 11 8 +3 10 0–0 2–1 3–2 0–0
3  Turkmenistan 6 3 0 3 8 11 −3 9 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–2 3–2 2–0 3–1
4  Sri Lanka 6 0 0 6 2 23 −21 0 0–5 0–3 0–2 0–1
5  North Korea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Withdrew 0–0 2–0 Canc. Canc.
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Ranking of runner-up teams[edit]

Since North Korea withdrew from Group H, results against the fifth-placed teams of each group were not counted in determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.[27]

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 A  China[a] 6 4 1 1 16 3 +13 13 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup
2 E  Oman 6 4 0 2 9 5 +4 12
3 C  Iraq 6 3 2 1 6 3 +3 11
4 G  Vietnam 6 3 2 1 6 4 +2 11
5 H  Lebanon 6 3 1 2 11 8 +3 10
6 F  Tajikistan 6 3 1 2 7 8 −1 10 Asian Cup qualifying third round
7 D  Uzbekistan 6 3 0 3 12 9 +3 9
8 B  Kuwait 6 2 2 2 8 6 +2 8
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ China already qualified for the Asian Cup as host nation. They withdrew their hosting right in May 2022.

Third round[edit]

The third round consisted of two groups of six teams. The first two teams in each group qualified for the World Cup. The two third-placed teams proceeded to the fourth round. The draw was held on 1 July 2021 in Malaysia.

Group A[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Iran 10 8 1 1 15 4 +11 25 2022 FIFA World Cup 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–0 2–0
2  South Korea 10 7 2 1 13 3 +10 23 2–0 1–0 0–0 2–1 1–0
3  United Arab Emirates 10 3 3 4 7 7 0 12 Fourth round 0–1 1–0 2–2 2–0 0–0
4  Iraq 10 1 6 3 6 12 −6 9 0–3 0–3 1–0 1–1 0–0
5  Syria 10 1 3 6 9 16 −7 6 0–3 0–2 1–1 1–1 2–3
6  Lebanon 10 1 3 6 5 13 −8 6 1–2 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–3
Source: FIFA, AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group B[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Saudi Arabia 10 7 2 1 12 6 +6 23 2022 FIFA World Cup 1–0 1–0 1–0 3–2 3–1
2  Japan 10 7 1 2 12 4 +8 22 2–0 2–1 0–1 2–0 1–1
3  Australia 10 4 3 3 15 9 +6 15 Fourth round 0–0 0–2 3–1 3–0 4–0
4  Oman 10 4 2 4 11 10 +1 14 0–1 0–1 2–2 2–0 3–1
5  China 10 1 3 6 9 19 −10 6 1–1 0–1 1–1 1–1 3–2
6  Vietnam 10 1 1 8 8 19 −11 4 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–1 3–1
Source: FIFA, AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Fourth round[edit]

The two third-placed teams in each group from the third round played against each other in a single match to determine which team advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

The match was played in Doha, Qatar on 7 June 2022.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
United Arab Emirates  1–2  Australia

Inter-confederation play-off[edit]

The inter-confederation play-off was determined by a draw held on 26 November 2021. The AFC fourth round winners was drawn against the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL.[28] The play-off was played as a single match in Qatar on 13 June 2022.[29]

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Australia  0–0 (a.e.t.)
(5–4 p)
 Peru

Qualified teams[edit]

The following six teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
 Qatar Hosts 2 December 2010 0 (debut)
 Iran Third round group A winners 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)
 Australia AFC v CONMEBOL play-off winners 13 June 2022 5 (19742, 20062, 2010, 2014, 2018)
1 Italic indicates hosts for that year.
2 Australia qualified as a member of the OFC in 1974 and 2006 (qualifying took place until 2005 and they left the OFC and joined the AFC in 2006).

Top goalscorers[edit]

There were 676 goals scored in 229 matches, for an average of 2.95 goals per match.

14 goals

12 goals

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ North Korea withdrew after five matches. Qatar participated to reach the Asian Cup.
  2. ^ The match was awarded as a 3–0 victory to Sri Lanka,[23] after Macau did not send their team for the match due to safety reasons following the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings.[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained". FIFA. 30 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015.
  2. ^ "AFC Executive Committee announces updates to 2020 competitions calendar". AFC. Asian Football Confederation. 10 September 2020. Archived from the original on 5 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Pakistan to learn World Cup, Asian Cup qualifying fate on April 17". Dawn.com. 22 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Groups finalised for Qatar 2022 & China 2023 race". Asian Football Confederation. 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019.
  5. ^ Palmer, Dan (31 July 2017). "Hosts Qatar to compete in qualifying for 2022 World Cup". inside the games.
  6. ^ "Federação Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". Asian Football Confederation. 20 January 2017. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018.
  7. ^ "Road to Qatar 2022: Asian teams discover Round 1 opponents". Asian Football Confederation. 17 April 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  8. ^ "FIFA Men's Ranking – April 2019 (AFC)". FIFA. 4 April 2019. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019.
  9. ^ "AFC Competitions Calendar 2019". Asian Football Confederation. 21 March 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  10. ^ "AFC Competitions Calendar 2020". AFC. 25 September 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2020.
  11. ^ "AFC Competitions Calendar 2021" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. 17 September 2021.
  12. ^ "AFC Competitions Calendar 2022" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  13. ^ "INTERNATIONAL MATCH CALENDAR 2020-2024" (PDF). FIFA. August 2021.
  14. ^ "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers". FIFA. 9 March 2020.
  15. ^ "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers". Asian Football Confederation. 9 March 2020. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021.
  16. ^ "AFC announces proposed dates for upcoming Asian Qualifiers". Asian Football Confederation. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Asia". FIFA. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  18. ^ "FIFA Council unanimously approves COVID-19 Relief Plan". FIFA. 25 June 2020.
  19. ^ "2022 FIFA World Cup: Asian qualifiers to be completed by March 2022". International Olympic Committee. 12 November 2020.
  20. ^ "Qatar, Bangladesh to resume Asian qualifiers in December". Asian Football Confederation. 11 November 2020. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021.
  21. ^ "Update on upcoming Asian qualifiers in March and June". FIFA. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  22. ^ "Draw sets out path for Asian aspirants". FIFA. 17 April 2019.
  23. ^ "FIFA Disciplinary Committee sanctions Macau Football Association". FIFA. 27 June 2019.
  24. ^ "Football - Macau not sending team to Sri Lanka due to security concerns". Reuters. 8 June 2019.
  25. ^ "Asian qualifiers draw to provide pathway to Qatar and China". Asian Football Confederation. 17 June 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  26. ^ "Latest update on Asian Qualifiers". Asian Football Confederation. 16 May 2021.
  27. ^ a b "Latest decision on Asian Qualifiers". Asian Football Confederation. 27 May 2021.
  28. ^ "European and intercontinental play-off draw results and reaction". FIFA. 26 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  29. ^ Allen, William (26 November 2021). "2022 World Cup inter-confederation play-off draw: fixtures and format". as.com. Retrieved 30 November 2021.

External links[edit]