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2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round

Tournament details
Dates	5 September 2024 – 10 June 2025
Teams	18 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	54
Goals scored	142 (2.63 per match)
Attendance	1,499,450 (27,768 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Yazan Al-Naimat Almoez Ali (5 goals each)
← 2022 2030 → All statistics correct as of 19 November 2024.

The third round of AFC matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification is played from 5 September 2024 to 10 June 2025.

Format

The eighteen teams that advanced from the second round (nine group winners and nine group runners-up) were divided into three groups of six teams. The teams will play against each other on a home-and-away basis. 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.

From the teams that advance to the fourth round, the two teams with the best results in this round also receive the right to host the fourth round groups.

Qualified teams

The following teams finished first or second in their respective second round groups:

•  Australia
•  Bahrain
•  China
•  Indonesia
•  Iran
•  Iraq
•  Japan
•  Jordan
•  Kuwait
•  Kyrgyzstan
•  North Korea
•  Oman
•  Palestine
•  Qatar
•  Saudi Arabia
•  South Korea
•  United Arab Emirates
•  Uzbekistan

Draw

The draw for the third round was held on 27 June 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The seeding for the draw was based on the FIFA Men's World Rankings on 20 June 2024 (shown in parentheses below).

Each group contained one team from each of the six pots. The draw started with Pot 6 and concluded with Pot 1, with each team drawn being placed in the corresponding position sequentially in Group A, then B, then C.

Schedule

The competition schedule is expected to be as follows:

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran (X)	6	5	1	0	12	5	+7	16	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	25 Mar	20 Mar	4–1	1–0	10 Jun
2	Uzbekistan	6	4	1	1	8	5	+3	13			0–0	—	1–0	10 Jun	20 Mar	1–0
3	United Arab Emirates	6	3	1	2	12	4	+8	10	Fourth round		0–1	5 Jun	—	5–0	3–0	1–1
4	Qatar	6	2	1	3	10	17	−7	7			5 Jun	3–2	1–3	—	3–1	20 Mar
5	Kyrgyzstan	6	1	0	5	6	13	−7	3			2–3	2–3	10 Jun	25 Mar	—	1–0
6	North Korea	6	0	2	4	5	9	−4	2			2–3	0–1	25 Mar	2–2	5 Jun	—

Uzbekistan	1–0	North Korea
Masharipov 20'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Iran	1–0	Kyrgyzstan
Taremi 34'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Qatar	1–3	United Arab Emirates
Al-Hassan 38'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Abdalla 68' Ibrahim 80' Saleh 90+4'

North Korea	2–2	Qatar
Ri Il-song 19' Kang Kuk-chol 52'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Afif 31' (pen.) Ali 44'

Kyrgyzstan	2–3	Uzbekistan
Kojo 15' Abdurakhmanov 35'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Shomurodov 17' Aliqulov 45' Urunov 72'

United Arab Emirates	0–1	Iran
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Ghayedi 45+3'

Uzbekistan	0–0	Iran
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Qatar	3–1	Kyrgyzstan
Ali 39' Kozubaev 63' (o.g.) Al-Hassan 81'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Shukurov 76'

United Arab Emirates	1–1	North Korea
Al-Ghassani 66'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Jong Il-gwan 86'

Uzbekistan	1–0	United Arab Emirates
Shukurov 76' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Kyrgyzstan	1–0	North Korea
Brauzman 11'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Iran	4–1	Qatar
Azmoun 42', 48' Mohebi 65', 90+8'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Ali 17'

North Korea	2–3	Iran
Taremi 56' (o.g.) Kim Yu-song 59'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Ghayedi 29' Mohebi 41', 45'

Qatar	3–2	Uzbekistan
Ali 25', 41' Mendes 90+12'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Fayzullaev 75', 80'

United Arab Emirates	3–0	Kyrgyzstan
Abdalla 15', 89' Meloni 35'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

North Korea	0–1	Uzbekistan
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Fayzullaev 44'

Kyrgyzstan	2–3	Iran
Kojo 51', 64' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Taremi 12' Hardani 33' Azmoun 76'

United Arab Emirates	5–0	Qatar
Lima 4', 45' (pen.), 45+5', 56' (pen.) Al-Ghassani 73'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Iran	v	United Arab Emirates
	Report

Qatar	v	North Korea
	Report

Uzbekistan	v	Kyrgyzstan
	Report

Iran	v	Uzbekistan
	Report

Kyrgyzstan	v	Qatar
	Report

North Korea	v	United Arab Emirates
	Report

Qatar	v	Iran
	Report

United Arab Emirates	v	Uzbekistan
	Report

North Korea	v	Kyrgyzstan
	Report

Iran	v	North Korea
	Report

Uzbekistan	v	Qatar
	Report

Kyrgyzstan	v	United Arab Emirates
	Report

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	6	4	2	0	12	5	+7	14	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	3–2	25 Mar	20 Mar	10 Jun	0–0
2	Iraq	6	3	2	1	5	3	+2	11			5 Jun	—	0–0	1–0	20 Mar	1–0
3	Jordan	6	2	3	1	9	5	+4	9	Fourth round		0–2	10 Jun	—	4–0	1–1	20 Mar
4	Oman	6	2	0	4	6	9	−3	6			1–3	0–1	5 Jun	—	4–0	1–0
5	Kuwait	6	0	4	2	5	11	−6	4			1–3	0–0	1–1	25 Mar	—	5 Jun
6	Palestine	6	0	3	3	4	8	−4	3			1–1	25 Mar	1–3	10 Jun	2–2	—

South Korea	0–0	Palestine
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Iraq	1–0	Oman
Hussein 13'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Jordan	1–1	Kuwait
Al-Tamari 14'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Nasser 90+2' (pen.)

Palestine	1–3	Jordan
Abou Ali 41'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Al-Naimat 5', 50' Al-Rawabdeh 72'

Oman	1–3	South Korea
Jung Seung-hyun 45+2' (o.g.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Hwang Hee-chan 10' Son Heung-min 82' Joo Min-kyu 90+11'

Kuwait	0–0	Iraq
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Jordan	0–2	South Korea
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Lee Jae-sung 38' Oh Hyeon-gyu 68'

Oman	4–0	Kuwait
Al-Mushaifri 17', 58' Al-Ghassani 30' Fawaz 79'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Iraq	1–0	Palestine
Hussein 31'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

South Korea	3–2	Iraq
Oh Se-hun 41' Oh Hyeon-gyu 74' Lee Jae-sung 83'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Hussein 50' Bayesh 90+5'

Jordan	4–0	Oman
Al-Naimat 26', 54' Olwan 49' (pen.), 87'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Palestine	2–2	Kuwait
Abou Ali 41' (pen.) Qunbar 90+3'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Nasser 31' (pen.), 80'

Kuwait	1–3	South Korea
Daham 60'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Oh Se-hun 10' Son Heung-min 19' (pen.) Bae Jun-ho 74'

Oman	1–0	Palestine
Al-Ghassani 83'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Iraq	0–0	Jordan
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Palestine	1–1	South Korea
Qunbar 12'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Son Heung-min 16'

Oman	0–1	Iraq
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Amyn 36'

Kuwait	1–1	Jordan
Daham 68'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Al-Naimat 21'

South Korea	v	Oman
	Report

Iraq	v	Kuwait
	Report

Jordan	v	Palestine
	Report

South Korea	v	Jordan
	Report

Palestine	v	Iraq
	Report

Kuwait	v	Oman
	Report

Iraq	v	South Korea
	Report

Oman	v	Jordan
	Report

Kuwait	v	Palestine
	Report

South Korea	v	Kuwait
	Report

Jordan	v	Iraq
	Report

Palestine	v	Oman
	Report

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan (X)	6	5	1	0	22	2	+20	16	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	10 Jun	25 Mar	20 Mar	7–0
2	Australia	6	1	4	1	6	5	+1	7			5 Jun	—	20 Mar	0–0	0–1	3–1
3	Indonesia	6	1	3	2	6	9	−3	6	Fourth round		0–4	0–0	—	2–0	25 Mar	5 Jun
4	Saudi Arabia	6	1	3	2	3	6	−3	6			0–2	10 Jun	1–1	—	0–0	20 Mar
5	Bahrain	6	1	3	2	5	10	−5	6			0–5	2–2	2–2	5 Jun	—	0–1
6	China	6	2	0	4	6	16	−10	6			1–3	25 Mar	2–1	1–2	10 Jun	—

Australia	0–1	Bahrain
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Souttar 89' (o.g.)

Japan	7–0	China
Endō 12' Mitoma 45+2' Minamino 52', 58' Itō 77' Maeda 87' Kubo 90+5'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Saudi Arabia	1–1	Indonesia
Al-Juwayr 45+3'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Walsh 19'

Indonesia	0–0	Australia
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

China	1–2	Saudi Arabia
Lajami 14' (o.g.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Kadesh 39', 90'

Bahrain	0–5	Japan
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Ueda 37' (pen.), 47' Morita 61', 64' Ogawa 81'

Australia	3–1	China
Miller 45+2' Goodwin 53' Velupillay 90+2'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Xie Wenneng 20'

Bahrain	2–2	Indonesia
Marhoon 15', 90+9'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Oratmangoen 45+3' Struick 74'

Saudi Arabia	0–2	Japan
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Kamada 14' Ogawa 81'

Japan	1–1	Australia
Burgess 76' (o.g.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Taniguchi 58' (o.g.)

China	2–1	Indonesia
Behram 21' Zhang Yuning 44'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Haye 86'

Saudi Arabia	0–0	Bahrain
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Australia	0–0	Saudi Arabia
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Bahrain	0–1	China
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Zhang Yuning 90+1'

Indonesia	0–4	Japan
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Hubner 35' (o.g.) Minamino 40' Morita 49' Sugawara 69'

China	1–3	Japan
Lin Liangming 48'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Ogawa 39', 54' Itakura 45+6'

Indonesia	2–0	Saudi Arabia
Marselino 32', 57'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Bahrain	2–2	Australia
Abduljabbar 75', 77'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Yengi 1', 90+6'

Japan	v	Bahrain
	Report

Australia	v	Indonesia
	Report

Saudi Arabia	v	China
	Report

Japan	v	Saudi Arabia
	Report

China	v	Australia
	Report

Indonesia	v	Bahrain
	Report

Australia	v	Japan
	Report

Indonesia	v	China
	Report

Bahrain	v	Saudi Arabia
	Report

Japan	v	Indonesia
	Report

China	v	Bahrain
	Report

Saudi Arabia	v	Australia
	Report

Goalscorers

There have been 142 goals scored in 54 matches, for an average of 2.63 goals per match (as of 19 November 2024).

5 goals

• Yazan Al-Naimat
• Almoez Ali

4 goals

• Mohammad Mohebi
• Kōki Ogawa
• Fábio Lima

3 goals

• Sardar Azmoun
• Aymen Hussein
• Takumi Minamino
• Hidemasa Morita
• Yousef Nasser
• Joel Kojo
• Son Heung-min
• Harib Abdalla
• Abbosbek Fayzullaev

2 goals

• Kusini Yengi
• Mahdi Abduljabbar
• Mohamed Marhoon
• Zhang Yuning
• Marselino Ferdinan
• Mehdi Ghayedi
• Mehdi Taremi
• Ayase Ueda
• Ali Olwan
• Mohammad Daham
• Muhsen Al-Ghassani
• Abdulrahman Al-Mushaifri
• Wessam Abou Ali
• Zaid Qunbar
• Ibrahim Al-Hassan
• Hassan Kadesh
• Lee Jae-sung
• Oh Hyeon-gyu
• Oh Se-hun
• Yahya Al-Ghassani

1 goal

• Craig Goodwin
• Lewis Miller
• Nishan Velupillay
• Behram Abduweli
• Lin Liangming
• Xie Wenneng
• Thom Haye
• Ragnar Oratmangoen
• Rafael Struick
• Sandy Walsh
• Saleh Hardani
• Youssef Amyn
• Ibrahim Bayesh
• Wataru Endō
• Ko Itakura
• Junya Itō
• Daichi Kamada
• Takefusa Kubo
• Daizen Maeda
• Kaoru Mitoma
• Yukinari Sugawara
• Noor Al-Rawabdeh
• Musa Al-Taamari
• Odilzhon Abdurakhmanov
• Khristiyan Brauzman
• Alimardon Shukurov
• Jong Il-gwan
• Kang Kuk-chol
• Kim Yu-song
• Ri Il-song
• Abdullah Fawaz
• Akram Afif
• Lucas Mendes
• Musab Al-Juwayr
• Bae Jun-ho
• Hwang Hee-chan
• Joo Min-kyu
• Khaled Ibrahim
• Marcus Meloni
• Ali Saleh
• Husniddin Aliqulov
• Jaloliddin Masharipov
• Eldor Shomurodov
• Otabek Shukurov
• Oston Urunov

1 own goal

• Cameron Burgess (against Japan)
• Harry Souttar (against Bahrain)
• Justin Hubner (against Japan)
• Mehdi Taremi (against North Korea)
• Shogo Taniguchi (against Australia)
• Tamirlan Kozubayev (against Qatar)
• Ali Lajami (against China)
• Jung Seung-hyun (against Oman)

Notes

1. ^ The North Korean team has confirmed moving the match to Laos due to "security concerns".
2. The AFC has moved the match to a neutral venue due to security concerns relating to the 2024 Iran–Israel conflict.
3. ^ Palestine play all their home matches at a neutral venue until further notice, due to the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.
4. ^ Because of traffic accidents holding up the Australians on the Shuto Expressway, Football Australia and JFA jointly requested to slightly postpone the match, but were denied by the AFC match commissioner. Australia started warming up at 19:06, 29 minutes before kick-off. Australia, staying in the five-star Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo in downtown Bunkyō, Tokyo, took 2 hours 9 minutes (16:37-18:46) to arrive the stadium via chartered coach, while ordinary driving time from Tokyo Station is estimated to be 40 minutes, according to the stadium.

References

1. ^ "AFC Competitions Calendar (Jul 2024 – Jun 2025)" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. 15 May 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
2. "Asia's pathway to the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 confirmed". Asian Football Confederation. 1 August 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
3. "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". the-AFC. Asian Football Confederation. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
4. ^ "Third round cast finalised". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 12 June 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
5. "Road to 26 draw to reveal riveting battles for Asian contenders". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 21 June 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
6. "Draw procedures for the AFC Preliminary Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26" (PDF). FIFA. 21 June 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
7. "Road to 26 - Draw Results & Match Schedule" (PDF). the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
8. Reddy, Shreyas (16 August 2024). "North Korea moves World Cup qualifier from Pyongyang due to 'security concerns'". NK News. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
9. "Latest update on AFC Asian Qualifiers - Road to 26". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 21 October 2024. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
10. "Latest update on AFC Asian Qualifiers - Road to 26". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
11. "Malaysia to host Palestine vs Jordan World Cup Qualifier match". The Sun. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
12. ^ Smyth, Rob (2024-10-15). "Admirable defensive performance earns the Socceroos a vital point in a match of two own goals against the Samurai Blue". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2024-10-16. Our man in Tokyo says both teams requested a delay to the kick-off and were rejected by the Asian Football Confederation. That's pretty ordinary, and there are a few alternative words as well— Socceroos team bus set out at 4:37pm from Bunkyo and arrived in Saitama 6:46pm - Two hours and nine minutes. JFA and FA requested a delay to kickoff but AFC declined— Joey Lynch
13. ^ McKern, James (2024-10-15). "Socceroos dudded by 'scandalous' decision after chaotic scenes unfold". news.com.au.
14. @Socceroos (2024-10-15). "One final stretch of the legs on matchday 👟 Tonight's kick off in Japan awaits". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2024-10-16.
15. "Directions". Saitama Stadium official website. Archived from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-02-04. By Car: Urawa interchange - 10 minutes, Iwatsuki interchange - 15 minutes, Tokyo Station - 40 minutes, Haneda Airport - 50 minutes

External links

• Asian Qualifiers: Road to 26 playlist on YouTube

• 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
• 2024 in Asian football
• 2025 in Asian football
• September 2024 sports events in Asia
• October 2024 sports events in Asia
• November 2024 sports events in Asia
• March 2025 sports events in Asia
• June 2025 sports events in Asia