2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification

2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Tournament details
Dates	12 October 2023 – 31 March 2026
Teams	46 [note 1]  (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	133
Goals scored	397 (2.98 per match)
Attendance	2,254,832 (16,954 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Almoez Ali Son Heung-min (7 goals each)
← 2023 2031 → All statistics correct as of 10 September 2024.

The 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification is the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, the 19th edition of the international men's football championship of Asia.

The qualification process involves a total of four rounds, where the first two rounds double as the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams, with the final two solely for 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification.

Format

The qualification structure is as follows: ^[1]

• First round: 20 teams (ranked 27–46) will play home-and-away over two legs.
  • 10 winners advance to the second round.
  • 3 best ranked losing teams advance to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
  • 6 worst ranked losing teams advance to the play-off round of Asian Cup qualification. ^{[note 2]}
• Second round: 36 teams (ranked 1–26 and 10 first-round winners) are divided into 9 groups of 4 teams to play home-and-away double round-robin matches.
  • The 9 group winners and 9 group runners-up qualify for the Asian Cup along with host Saudi Arabia and advance to the third round of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
  • The remaining 18 teams advance to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
• Play-off round: 6 teams (the worst ranked losing teams from the first round) will play home-and-away over two legs that determine the final 3 qualifiers for the third round. ^{[2] [note 2]}
• Third round: 24 teams (3 best ranked losing team from the first round + 18 third and fourth-placed teams from the second round + 3 winners from the play-off round) will be divided into 6 groups of 4 teams to play home-and-away double round-robin matches and the winner of each group will occupy the remaining 6 slots for the Asian Cup.

Entrants

Forty-six FIFA-affiliated nations are eligible to enter the joint qualification process for both the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup; Northern Mariana Islands, which is not a FIFA member, would have entered through the play-off round. ^[1] However, it was not included in the draw for the play-off round. ^[2]

The draw for the first and second rounds of joint qualification took place on 27 July 2023. ^[3] Teams were seeded into four pots. Pots 1, 2 and 3 contain the teams ranked 1–9, 10-18 and 19-26 respectively, while Pot 4 contains the remaining 20 teams (ranked 27–46). All teams from Pot 4 were drawn to the first round into two pots. Teams from Pots 1, 2 and 3 were drawn directly to the second round, along with an allocated first-round tie winner. ^{[4] [3]}

From the July 2023 FIFA World Rankings ^[5]

Bye to second round			Competing in first round
Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 1	Pot 2
Japan (20)   Iran (22)   Australia (27)   South Korea (28)   Saudi Arabia (54)   Qatar (59)   Iraq (70)   United Arab Emirates (72)   Oman (73)	Uzbekistan (74)   China (80)   Jordan (82)   Bahrain (86)   Syria (94)   Vietnam (95)   Palestine (96)   Kyrgyzstan (97)   India (99)	Lebanon (100)   Tajikistan (110)   Thailand (113)   North Korea (115)   Philippines (135)   Malaysia (136)   Kuwait (137)   Turkmenistan (138)	Hong Kong (149)   Indonesia (150)   Chinese Taipei (153)   Maldives (155)   Yemen (156)   Afghanistan (157)   Singapore (158)   Myanmar (160)     Nepal (175)   Cambodia (176)	Macau (182)   Mongolia (183)   Bhutan (185)   Laos (187)   Bangladesh (189)   Brunei (190)   East Timor (192)   Pakistan (201)   Guam (203)   Sri Lanka (204)

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is expected to be as follows, according to the AFC Competitions Calendar. ^{[6] [7] [8]} This is the first Asian Cup qualification that starts before the previous final matches would be held, as the 2023 AFC Asian Cup was postponed to early 2024.

Round Matchday Date(s) First round First leg 12 October 2023 Second leg 17 October 2023 Second round Matchday 1 16 November 2023 Matchday 2 21 November 2023 Matchday 3 21 March 2024 Matchday 4 26 March 2024 Matchday 5 6 June 2024 Matchday 6 11 June 2024

Round Matchday Date Play-off round First leg 5–6 September 2024 Second leg 10 September 2024 Third round Matchday 1 25 March 2025 Matchday 2 10 June 2025 Matchday 3 9 October 2025 Matchday 4 14 October 2025 Matchday 5 18 November 2025 Matchday 6 31 March 2026

First round

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round

The draw for the first round was held on 27 July 2023 at 14:00 MST (UTC+8) at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ^[3]

Summary

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Afghanistan	2–0	Mongolia	1–0	1–0
Maldives	2–3	Bangladesh	1–1	1–2
Singapore	3–1	Guam	2–1	1–0
Yemen	4–1	Sri Lanka	3–0	1–1
Myanmar	5–1	Macau	5–1	0–0
Cambodia	0–1	Pakistan	0–0	0–1
Chinese Taipei	7–0	East Timor	4–0	3–0
Indonesia	12–0	Brunei	6–0	6–0
Hong Kong	4–2	Bhutan	4–0	0–2
Nepal	2–1	Laos	1–1	1–0

Ranking of best losing teams

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bhutan	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	3	Asian Cup qualifying third round
2	Maldives	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1
3	Laos	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
4	Cambodia	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round
5	Sri Lanka	2	0	1	1	1	4	−3	1
6	Macau	2	0	1	1	1	5	−4	1
7	Guam	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	0	Not participating in play-off round
8	Mongolia	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2	0	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round
9	East Timor	2	0	0	2	0	7	−7	0
10	Brunei	2	0	0	2	0	12	−12	0

Source: AFC

Second round

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round

The draw for the second round was held on 27 July 2023 at 16:00 MST (UTC+8) at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ^[3]

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	6	5	1	0	18	3	+15	16	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	3–0	2–1	8–1
2	Kuwait	6	2	1	3	6	6	0	7			1–2	—	0–1	1–0
3	India	6	1	2	3	3	7	−4	5	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–3	0–0	—	1–2
4	Afghanistan	6	1	2	3	3	14	−11	5			0–0	0–4	0–0	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	6	6	0	0	24	0	+24	18	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	1–0	5–0	5–0
2	North Korea	6	3	0	3	11	7	+4	9			0–3 [a]	—	1–0	4–1
3	Syria	6	2	1	3	9	12	−3	7	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–5	1–0	—	7–0
4	Myanmar	6	0	1	5	3	28	−25	1			0–5	1–6	1–1	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. Japan were awarded a 3–0 victory by forfeit, after North Korea refused to host the match citing concerns about a disease spreading in Japan.

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	6	5	1	0	20	1	+19	16	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	1–0	1–1	5–0
2	China	6	2	2	2	9	9	0	8 [a]			0–3	—	1–1	4–1
3	Thailand	6	2	2	2	9	9	0	8 [a]	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–3	1–2	—	3–1
4	Singapore	6	0	1	5	5	24	−19	1			0–7	2–2	1–3	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: China 4, Thailand 1.

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oman	6	4	1	1	11	2	+9	13	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	1–1	2–0	3–0
2	Kyrgyzstan	6	3	2	1	13	7	+6	11			1–0	—	1–1	5–1
3	Malaysia	6	3	1	2	9	9	0	10	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–2	4–3	—	3–1
4	Chinese Taipei	6	0	0	6	2	17	−15	0			0–3	0–2	0–1	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	6	4	2	0	16	4	+12	14	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	0–0	5–0	4–0
2	Uzbekistan	6	4	2	0	13	4	+9	14			2–2	—	3–1	3–0
3	Turkmenistan	6	0	2	4	4	14	−10	2	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–1	1–3	—	0–0
4	Hong Kong	6	0	2	4	4	15	−11	2			2–4	0–2	2–2	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq	6	6	0	0	17	2	+15	18	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	5–1	3–1	1–0
2	Indonesia	6	3	1	2	8	8	0	10			0–2	—	1–0	2–0
3	Vietnam	6	2	0	4	6	10	−4	6	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–1	0–3	—	3–2
4	Philippines	6	0	1	5	3	14	−11	1			0–5	1–1	0–2	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan	6	4	1	1	16	4	+12	13	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	0–2	3–0	7–0
2	Saudi Arabia [a]	6	4	1	1	12	3	+9	13	World Cup qualifying third round		1–2	—	1–0	4–0
3	Tajikistan	6	2	2	2	11	7	+4	8	Asian Cup qualifying third round		1–1	1–1	—	3–0
4	Pakistan	6	0	0	6	1	26	−25	0			0–3	0–3	1–6	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. Saudi Arabia already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation and only competed to qualify for the World Cup.

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United Arab Emirates	6	5	1	0	16	2	+14	16	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	1–1	2–1	4–0
2	Bahrain	6	3	2	1	11	3	+8	11			0–2	—	0–0	3–0
3	Yemen	6	1	2	3	5	9	−4	5	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–3	0–2	—	2–2
4	Nepal	6	0	1	5	2	20	−18	1			0–4	0–5	0–2	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group I

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	6	6	0	0	22	0	+22	18	World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup		—	5–0	2–0	7–0
2	Palestine	6	2	2	2	6	6	0	8			0–1	—	0–0	5–0
3	Lebanon	6	1	3	2	5	8	−3	6	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–5	0–0	—	4–0
4	Bangladesh	6	0	1	5	1	20	−19	1			0–2	0–1	1–1	—

Source: FIFA AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Play-off round

Main article: 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification – play-off round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Sri Lanka	2–2 (4–2 p)	Cambodia	0–0	2–2 (a.e.t.)
East Timor	4–3	Mongolia	4–1	0–2
Brunei	4–0	Macau	3–0	1–0

Third round

Groups

Main article: 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification – third round

2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 7.3): [9] Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams were tied, and after applying criteria 1 to 3, a subset of teams were still tied, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group; Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points); Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2027 AFC Asian Cup
2	A2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	A3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	A4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 25 March 2025. Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	B1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2027 AFC Asian Cup
2	B2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	B3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	B4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 25 March 2025. Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	C1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2027 AFC Asian Cup
2	C2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	C3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	C4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 25 March 2025. Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	D1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2027 AFC Asian Cup
2	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	D4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 25 March 2025. Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	E1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2027 AFC Asian Cup
2	E2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	E3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	E4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 25 March 2025. Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	F1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2027 AFC Asian Cup
2	F2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	F3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	F4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 25 March 2025. Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Qualified teams

A total of 24 teams will qualify for the final tournament including the host Saudi Arabia.

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearances	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Saudi Arabia	Hosts	1 February 2023	12th	2023	Winners (1984, 1988, 1996)
Australia	Second round Group I winners	26 March 2024	6th	2023	Winners (2015)
Iraq	Second round Group F winners	26 March 2024	11th	2023	Winners (2007)
Iran	Second round Group E winners	26 March 2024	16th	2023	Winners (1968, 1972, 1976)
Uzbekistan	Second round Group E runners-up	26 March 2024	9th	2023	Fourth place (2011)
Qatar	Second round Group A winners	26 March 2024	12th	2023	Winners (2019, 2023)
United Arab Emirates	Second round Group H winners	26 March 2024	12th	2023	Runners-up (1996)
Japan	Second round Group B winners	2 April 2024	11th	2023	Winners (1992, 2000, 2004, 2011)
South Korea	Second round Group C winners	6 June 2024	16th	2023	Winners (1956, 1960)
Oman	Second round Group D winners	6 June 2024	6th	2023	Round of 16 (2019)
Palestine	Second round Group I runners-up	6 June 2024	4th	2023	Round of 16 (2023)
Bahrain	Second round Group H runners-up	6 June 2024	8th	2023	Fourth place (2004)
Jordan	Second round Group G winners	6 June 2024	6th	2023	Runners-up (2023)
China	Second round Group C runners-up	11 June 2024	14th	2023	Runners-up (1984, 2004)
Indonesia	Second round Group F runners-up	11 June 2024	6th	2023	Round of 16 (2023)
North Korea	Second round Group B runners-up	11 June 2024	6th	2019	Fourth place (1980)
Kuwait	Second round Group A runners-up	11 June 2024	11th	2015	Winners (1980)
Kyrgyzstan	Second round Group D runners-up	11 June 2024	3rd	2023	Round of 16 (2019)
TBD	Third round group A winners
TBD	Third round group B winners
TBD	Third round group C winners
TBD	Third round group D winners
TBD	Third round group E winners
TBD	Third round group F winners

Top goalscorers

There have been 397 goals scored in 133 matches, for an average of 2.98 goals per match (as of 10 September 2024). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.

7 goals

• Almoez Ali
• Son Heung-min

6 goals

• Ayase Ueda

5 goals

• Wu Lei
• Mehdi Taremi
• Musa Al-Taamari

4 goals

• Kusini Yengi
• Ramadhan Sananta
• Sardar Azmoun
• Aymen Hussein
• Ali Olwan
• Jong Il-gwan
• Saleh Al-Shehri
• Lee Kang-in
• Suphanat Mueanta

3 goals

• Jamie Maclaren
• Yu Yao-hsing
• Dimas Drajad
• Rizky Ridho
• Ritsu Dōan
• Yazan Al-Naimat
• Joel Kojo
• Hassan Maatouk
• Ri Jo-guk
• Abdulrahman Al-Mushaifri
• Oday Dabbagh
• Firas Al-Buraikan
• Omar Khribin
• João Pedro
• Sultan Adil
• Fábio Lima
• Ali Mabkhout
• Eldor Shomurodov
• Oston Urunov

The lists below show all goal scorers for each round:

• First round
• Second round
• Play-off round
• Third round

See also

• 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

Notes

1. Saudi Arabia participated to reach the World Cup.
2. Originally this was announced to be 10 teams (9 worst ranked losing teams from the first round + Northern Mariana Islands). However, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands were not included in the draw for the play-off round announced on 1 May 2024.

References

1. "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". AFC. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
2. "Six teams to contest Qualifiers Playoff for Saudi Arabia 2027". AFC. 2 May 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
3. "Stage set for FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Qualifiers draw". AFC. 5 July 2023.
4. Nasir, Saad (23 June 2023). "Pakistan's Draws for FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers Revealed". ProSports. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
5. "FIFA Men's Ranking – July 2023". FIFA. 20 July 2023.
6. "AFC Competitions Calendar (Aug 2023 - Jul 2024)" (PDF). AFC.
7. "AFC Competitions Calendar (Aug 2024 - Jul 2025)" (PDF). AFC.
8. "AFC Competitions Calendar (Aug 2025 - Jul 2026)" (PDF). AFC.
9. "AFC Asian Cup 2027 Saudi Arabia Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC. 9 August 2024. p. 25.