Doha, 11 June: India’s hopes of advancing to the third round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers ended in despair on Tuesday as Qatar came from behind to secure a 2-1 win in front of a boisterous Indian expat crowd at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha. Lallianzuala Chhangte opened the scoring for India but a controversial goal for Yousef Aymen and the winner from Ahmed Al-Rawi clinched the game for Qatar.
India’s defeat meant that Kuwait, alongside Qatar advanced to the next round of qualifiers. Kuwait managed to beat Afghanistan at home 1-0 to secure the second place after having begun the day at the bottom of the points table in Group A.
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
The Asian section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification act as qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup for national teams of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). AFC teams have been allocated eight direct qualifying slots and one inter-confederation play-off slot.
The qualification process involves five rounds; the first two also serving as qualification for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
Entrants
All FIFA-affiliated nations entered the joint qualification process for both the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup; Northern Mariana Islands, who is not a FIFA member, would have entered through the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification play-off round. However, the AFC excluded Northern Mariana Islands from the draw for the play-off round.
Format
The qualification format was announced on 1 August 2022, having been revamped to fit the increased finals allocation of eight direct qualifiers and one play-off qualifier
- First round: 20 teams (ranked 27–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The ten winners advanced to the second round. The best loser qualified for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification third round, while the remaining teams qualified for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification – play-off round.
- Second round: 36 teams (ranked 1–26 and ten first-round winners) are divided into nine groups of four teams. The teams will play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The nine group winners and group runners-up advance to the third round and automatically qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. The remaining teams qualified for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification third round.
- Third round: 18 teams which advance from the second round are 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 qualify directly for the FIFA World Cup, the third and fourth-placed teams advance to the fourth round.
- Fourth round: Six third and fourth-placed teams from the third round are divided into two groups of three teams each. The teams will play against each other once in a neutral venue. The winners of each group qualify for the World Cup, and the runners-up of each group advance to the fifth round.
- Fifth round: The group runners-up in the fourth round will compete home-and-away over two legs to determine the Asian representation at the inter-confederation play-offs.