FIFA announce World Cup AFC Preliminary Qualifying Round 3 draw

The 18 teams have been drawn into three groups, to earn a spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup

The draw for the AFC Preliminary third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup took place in Malaysia on Thursday, the 27th of June. 

Only 18 nations now remain in the hunt for a spot at the ultimate football competition in the world, as nations will now have a chance in the third round of qualifiers, to finally book their spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 

The 18 teams remaining in the qualifiers have been drawn into three groups of six teams each, with the winners and runners-up in each group booking their spot at the World Cup.

Those finishing third and fourth in the round-robin format will progress to the fourth round, where an additional group phase will take place, giving two more nations their ticket to North America. 

The two fourth round runners-up will then advance to the fifth round where Asia’s representative at the FIFA Intercontinental playoff will be determined.

FIFA World Cup 2026 Round 3 draw

With the draw for the third round of FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers, we now have all 18 teams divided into three groups, where they will now take on each of their group opponents on a home and away basis. The third round is set to take place from September 2024 to June 2025.

Some notable excerpts from the draw include 

• Three of the continent’s six entrants from Qatar 2022 (Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia) have been drawn together in Group C.
• AFC Asian Cup 2024 finalists Jordan drawn with South Korea in Group B.
• Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan, both bidding for a maiden World Cup appearance, have been drawn together in Group A.

Group A

IR Iran

Qatar

Uzbekistan

United Arab Emirates

Kyrgyz Republic

DPR Korea

Group B

Korea Republic

Iraq

Jordan

Oman

Palestine

Kuwait

Group C

Japan 

Australia 

Saudi Arabia 

Bahrain 

China PR

Indonesia

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