Doha: All eyes will be on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 27 for the official draw ceremonies of the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 and Round 2 of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027.
As many as 45 Member Associations (MAs) are expected to discover their road to the 23rd FIFA World Cup, to be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. 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 FIFA World Cup 2026, the AFC has made some changes to the qualification format as there will be eight and a half slots on offer for the Continent’s national teams. It means that the 18 lowest-ranked MAs out of the 45 – according to the next FIFA Ranking release on July 20 and subject to the number of entries submitted to FIFA – will begin their qualifying journey in Round 1.
These 18 teams will be divided into nine pairings, with each pair to play one home and one away match on October 12 and 17, 2023 respectively. The nine winners of Round 1 proceed to Round 2, where they are joined by the remaining 27 teams.
