Soccer
Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 is happening tomorrow!
Discover dates, qualifying format and the number of tickets to the next FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Play-Off Tournament in Asia.
Dates
AFC qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 26™ began on 12 October 2023 and ends in November 2025.
Tickets to FIFA World Cup 26
For the first time Asia will have eight direct berths at the FIFA World Cup, with an additional nation participating in the FIFA Play-Off Tournament for a possible total of nine AFC participants.
How qualifying works
The first round of the FIFA World Cup 26 AFC qualification competition took place in October 2023. Twenty teams contested 10 two-legged home-and-away ties, with the winners joining 26 other nations in the second round, which consists on nine four-team sections.
From 13 November 2023 until 11 June 2024, each team will play home and away, with the top two from each group qualifying for the third round.
Those 18 remaining nations will then be split into three groups of six, with each team again playing one another home and away from September 2024 to June 2025. The top two from those sections will be assured of a spot at World Cup 26.
The fourth round, which heralds the beginning of the Asian play-offs, consists of the six sides which finished third and fourth respectively across the third-round groups. They will be split into two groups of three from October 2025, with the winners of these groups qualifying for the finals.
Finally, the fifth round, set to take place in November 2025, will pit together the two sides which finished as runners-up in the fourth-round group in a two-legged contest. The winner will advance to the FIFA Play-Off Tournament.