AFC outlines qualification path for 2026 World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup

August 1 - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has set out a four-stage qualification format for the expanded 2026 World Cup which will see eight Asian teams qualify directly for the 48-team edition, and one other nation AFC in the inter -continental play-offs.

The AFC will again use the World Cup qualification process to directly qualify teams for the 2027 Asian Cup, the confederation's blue ribbon championship for men's national teams.

The AFC Executive Committee has adopted a structure consisting of two preliminary rounds followed by the 18-team “AFC Asian Qualifiers”.

This round will see three groups of six nations play each other home and away, with the top two from each group qualifying directly for the 2026 World Cup. All 18 teams in this round also qualify for the Cup of Asia 2027.

The six third- and fourth-placed teams in each group will then be split into two groups of three, with the group winners qualifying for 2026 and the second-placed teams playing for the Intercontinental Play-off slot.

The AFC said the contest structure was based on the participation of all of its 47 members.

Full details of the qualifying journey for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup are shown below:

Joint Qualifying Preliminary Round 1: 22 teams, seeded 26-47, will be drawn to compete in a home and away format, where the 11 winners will advance to Joint Qualifying Preliminary Round 2. Second Joint Qualifying Preliminary Round: 36 teams - the teams ranked 1-25 plus the 11 winners of the first round - will be divided into nine groups of four teams each, who will each compete in a round-robin tournament, at home and outside. , where the top two teams from each group - 18 in total - will advance to the AFC Asian Qualifiers. AFC Asian Qualifiers: Subsequently, the 18 teams, which also automatically qualify for the AFC Asian Cup™ 2027, will be divided into three groups of six teams each, competing in a tournament at round, home and away, with the top two teams from each group - six in total - qualifying directly for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Asian Playoff: The final round will consist of the teams ranked third and fourth from all AFC Asian qualifying groups - six teams in total. The six teams will be drawn into two pools of three teams each, competing in a single round-robin format. The two first-placed teams from the Asian groups of the qualifiers will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. .

The 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers will continue from preliminary joint qualifying rounds 1 and 2 alongside the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying competition:

AFC Asian Cup Qualifying Qualifiers: The 10 losing teams from the first preliminary joint qualifying round will be drawn to play each other in a home-and-away format, where the five winners will advance to the final round AFC Asian Cup™ qualifiers. AFC Asian Cup Qualifying Final Round: 24 teams in total - 1 highest ranked losing team from the first preliminary joint qualifying round, 18 teams ranked third and fourth from each group of the second preliminary joint qualifying round and the five winners of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifying play-offs - will be divided into six groups of four teams each, where only the top team from each group will qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup .

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