2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifier: There are 18 teams remaining in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers from the Asian continent. The third round of the AFC World Cup qualifiers will end on June 10, 2025. Six teams will advance directly to the World Cup and six teams will advance to the fourth round. The 2026 World Cup football tournament has many unique features. For the first time in the history of the World Cup, 48 teams will compete. The first World Cup to be hosted by three countries. Next year’s finals have features such as the first World Cup to be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The 23rd FIFA World Cup will be the first time in history that 48 teams will be given a chance, which will give more countries from six continents a chance. This is an increase of 16 teams compared to the previous seven World Cups since 1998. These are distributed among the Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America and Oceania regions. Seven teams have already qualified, leaving 41 spots remaining.
Eight teams from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will qualify directly. Although Asia has one more spot, it will be the winner of the match against a team from the Oceania region. There are currently 18 Asian countries in the qualifying competition for the next World Cup. India is not included. This is the third round of AFC World Cup qualifying. The third round of matches, which began on 5 September 2024, will end on 10 June 2025.
The 18 Asian teams (nine group winners and nine group runners-up) that advanced from the second round are competing in three groups. Each team will play 10 matches, with five home matches and five away matches. All eight matches have been completed by all teams. The top two teams in each group will qualify directly for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The third and fourth-placed teams will advance to the fourth round.
With eight matches completed, Iran is in first place in Group A with 20 points and Uzbekistan is in second place with 17 points. The UAE, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea are in the next four places respectively.
In Group B, South Korea is in first and second place with 16 points and Jordan with 13 points. Iraq, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait are in the next places.
In Group C, Asian powerhouse Japan is unbeaten with 20 points from eight matches, with six wins and two draws. Australia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Bahrain and China are in second to sixth places.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will start with 48 teams divided into 12 groups. The matches will be played from June 11 to July 19.
