The Asian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, for national teams which were members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). 4.5 slots (four direct slots and one inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament were available for AFC teams.
On 16 April 2014, the AFC Executive Committee approved a proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup, which expanded to 24 teams starting in 2019. Therefore, the first two rounds of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers also acted as qualifiers for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
Format The qualification structure was as follows: First round: 12 teams (ranked 35–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round. Second round: 40 teams (ranked 1–34 and six first round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up advanced to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification. Third round: 12 teams (an increase from ten for 2014) which had advanced from the second round were divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the two third-placed teams advanced to the fourth round. Fourth round: Two third-placed teams of each group from the third round played home-and-away over two legs. The winners advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Entrants The 46 FIFA-affiliated nations from the AFC entered qualification. In order to determine which nations would compete in the first round and which nations would receive a bye through to the second round, the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015 were used (shown in parentheses), as those were the latest published rankings prior to the first round draw. The FIFA Rankings of January 2015 were also used for seeding of the first round draw; however, for seeding in the second round and third round draws, the most recent FIFA Rankings prior to those draws were used.
This was the first effective participation of Bhutan, the country registered for the qualifications of 2010 but withdrew without playing a game (initially drawn against Kuwait in the first round).
+From the January 2015 FIFA World RankingsBye to the second round(Ranked 1st to 34th)Competing in first round(Ranked 35th to 46th) (51) (54) (69) (71) (80) (92) (93) (93) (96) (100) (102) (110) (114) (115) (122) (125) (129) (131) (133) (136) (141) (142) (144) (147) (150) (151) (152) (154) (156) (157) (159) (160) (161) (165)
Schedule The schedule of the competition was as follows.
RoundMatchdayDateFirst roundFirst leg12 March 2015Second leg17 March 2015Second roundMatchday 111 June 2015Matchday 216 June 2015Matchday 33 September 2015Matchday 48 September 2015Matchday 58 October 2015Matchday 613 October 2015Matchday 712 November 2015Matchday 817 November 2015Matchday 924 March 2016Matchday 1029 March 2016RoundMatchdayDateThird roundMatchday 11 September 2016Matchday 26 September 2016Matchday 36 October 2016Matchday 411 October 2016Matchday 515 November 2016Matchday 623 March 2017Matchday 728 March 2017Matchday 813 June 2017Matchday 931 August 2017Matchday 105 September 2017Fourth roundFirst leg5 October 2017Second leg10 October 2017
First round
The draw for the first round was held on 10 February 2015, 15:30 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Second round
The draw for the second round was held on 14 April 2015, at 17:00 MST (UTC+8), at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Summary
Group AGroup BGroup CGroup DGroup EGroup FGroup GGroup H
Groups
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Ranking of runner-up teams To determine the four best runner-up teams, the following criteria were used: Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss) Goal difference Goals scored Fair play points Drawing of lots
As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.
Third round
The third round consisted of two groups of six teams. The first two teams in each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The two third-placed teams proceeded to the fourth round.
The draw for the third round was held on 12 April 2016, at 16:30 MST (UTC+8), at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Groups
Group A
Group B
Fourth round
The two third-placed teams in each group from the third round played against each other home-and-away over two legs to determine which team advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
The order of legs was announced during the draw for the third round. Syria played their home match, as with all their home matches in the third round, in Malaysia due to the war time condition in Syria.
Inter-confederation play-offs
The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg. The fifth-placed team from AFC was drawn against the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF, with the AFC team hosting the second leg.
Qualified teams The following five teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.
Team Qualified as Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA World Cup1 4 (1978, 1998, 2006, 2014) 5 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) 9 (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) 4 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006) 4 (19742, 20062, 2010, 2014) 1 Italic indicates hosts for that year. 2 Australia qualified as a member of the OFC in 1974 and 2006 (qualifying took place until 2005 and they left the OFC and joined the AFC in 2006).
Top goalscorers
Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:
First round Second round Third round Fourth round
Notes
See also 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
References
External links
Qualifiers – Asia, FIFA.com FIFA World Cup, the-AFC.com Preliminary Joint Qualification 2018 , stats.the-AFC.com FIFA World Cup 2018, stats.the-AFC.com