The AFC Asian Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the final tournament of AFC Asian Cup. The qualification reduces the large field of eligible entrants from 47 to just 24 for the finals.
The hosts receive automatic berths, and between 1972 and 2015 (except 1976), so did the defending champions.
Format evolution
Over the past century, the AFC Asian Cup has seen various changes in its qualification format as well as the number of teams participating.
+ Number of teams entering qualification 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 Total entrants 19 18 18 19 26 31 31 30 24 22 35 42 43 25 27 20 46 46 47 Played at least one match 6 10 4 14 13 15 17 21 20 20 33 24 24 45 46 Qualified via qualification 2 3 1 3 5 3 9 8 8 6 10 10 14 12 10 11 23 23 23 Qualified without playing 2 1 3 2 1 3 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 5 0 0 0 Total finalists 4 4 4 4 6 6 10 10 10 8 12 12 16 16 16 16 24 24 24
1956 The 19 teams were divided in to three different zones based upon their location. In each zone, the teams played in a two legged Knockout format. The four winners of first round advanced to the next round. The two winners in the second round advanced to final which decided the team participating in the final tournament along with the hosts.
1960–1972 From 1960, the format had a slight change. The participating teams were again divided into zones based upon their location. The teams in their zones played against each other once, in a round robin format. The group topper of each zone advanced to the final tournament along with the hosts.
1972–1980 Starting from 1972, the format saw another change. Instead of zones, the teams were now divided into groups, with two teams instead of one advancing to the final tournament along with the hosts. Also the number of teams participating in the final tournament was increased to six and then to ten in 1980.
1984 & 1988 For a brief period, the teams were divided into groups not based on their location. This saw teams from all zones competing against each other in Asian Cup qualifiers for the first time since its inception. Two teams from each group qualified for the final tournament, along with the winners of previous edition who received a direct entry and as well as the hosts.
1992–2000 The format was reverted to an older one where teams were segregated based upon their location, but this time the number of participating nations increased. Winners of previous edition and the hosts were joined by the winner of each groups in qualifiers. The number of participants in the final tournament was increased to 12.
2004 & 2007 The tournament started from the preliminary round where the lower ranked teams played against each other, the winners of this round qualified for the qualifying round. In the qualifying round, top two teams from each group qualified for the final tournament. Participation of teams in the final tournament increased from 12 to 16.
2011 & 2015 The hosts, previous edition's winners, runner-up and third placed sides automatically qualified for the final tournament. AFC Challenge Cup winners(2) were also awarded a slot in the final tournament. The remaining ten slots were decided by the qualifying tournament in which the lower ranked teams played in preliminary rounds and the winners advanced to the qualifying round. In the qualifying round, the top two teams from each group received a berth in the final tournament.
2019 & 2023 The proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds for FIFA World Cup qualifiers with those for the Asian Cup was ratified by the AFC Competitions Committee.
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams from previous number of 16.
The qualification structure is as follows: First round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 35–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round. Second round: A total of 40 teams (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 as well as qualified for the AFC Asian Cup finals. The next 16 highest ranked teams (the remaining four group runners-up, the eight third-placed teams and the four best group fourth-placed teams) advanced directly to the third round of Asian Cup qualification. The remaining 12 teams entered the play-off round to contest the remaining eight spots in the third round of Asian Cup qualification. Play-off round: At a Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that a play-off round of qualifying would be introduced into the qualification procedure. There were two rounds of home-and-away two-legged play-off matches to determine the final eight qualifiers for the third round. Third round: The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches, and they competed for the remaining slots of the AFC Asian Cup.
The play-off round represented a change from the initially announced qualification format – which saw the remaining fourth-placed teams and the four best group fifth-placed teams also advance to the third round.
2027–present The new qualification format starting with the 2027 qualifiers was announced on 1 August 2022, having been revamped to fit the increased allocation of eight direct qualifiers and one play-off qualifier for the FIFA World Cup:
First round: 20 teams (ranked 27–46) played home-and-away over two legs. 10 winners advanced to the second round. 1 best ranked losing teams advanced to the third round. 9 worst ranked losing teams advanced to the play-off round.
Second round: 36 teams (ranked 1–26 and 10 first-round winners) were 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 qualified for the Asian Cup along with the host and advanced to the third round of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The remaining 18 teams advanced to the third round of Asian Cup qualification. Play-off round: 10 teams (the worst ranked losing teams from the first round, plus non-FIFA member Northern Mariana Islands) played home-and-away over two legs that determined the final 5 qualifiers for the third round. Third round: 24 teams (1 best ranked losing team from the first round + 18 third and fourth-placed teams from the second round + 5 winners from the play-off round) were divided into 6 groups of 4 teams to play home-and-away double round-robin matches and the winner of each group occupied the remaining 6 slots for the Asian Cup.
Participating teams
Only teams that played at least one match are considered for the purposes of first appearance. Teams that withdrew prior to the qualification, or that qualified to the AFC Asian Cup by walkover due to other teams' withdrawals, are not considered.
+First appearance in qualification by team Year Debuting teams Successor teams Renamed teams Teams 1956 , , , , , 6 6 1960 , , , , , 6 12 1964 1 13 1968 , , 3 16 1972 , , , , , , , 8 24 1976 , , , , 5 29 1980 , , 3 32 1984 , , 3 35 1988 1 36 1992 None 0 36 1996 , , , , , , 7 43 2000 , , , 4 47 2004 1 48 2007 1 49 2011 None 0 49 2015 None 0 49 2019 None 0 49 2023 None 0 49 2027 None 0 49
Teams' entries prior to their actual debuts in qualification
Successor and renamed teams
Team records The below table compares the overall records of all teams that have participated in qualification. Teams are ordered by points using the three points for a win system, then by goal difference, and then by goals scored. Note that this order does not represent any official rankings, and qualification tournaments are not direct competitions among all teams.
The "Qualifying attempts" column only counts qualifying campaigns where the team played at least one match, while the "Appearances in the finals" also include automatic qualifiers.
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
Key Team has qualified for the main tournament Team has not qualified for the main tournament Team is no longer a member of AFC, but has qualified for the main tournament Team is no longer a member of AFC Defunct team has qualified for the main tournament only by walkover
The table is updated to the matches played in June 2026. No. Team Qualifying attempts Appearancesin the finals Overall qualification record Points Total Successful Points 1 13 12 16 76 57 12 7 226 41 +185 183 2.408 2 16 8 9 93 45 17 31 180 121 +59 152 1.634 3 14 8 8 80 46 12 22 164 82 +82 150 1.875 4 12 10 12 64 46 8 10 152 41 +111 146 2.281 5 14 11 16 62 46 7 9 206 25 +181 145 2.339 6 12 11 12 62 45 9 8 169 36 +133 144 2.323 7 13 13 14 66 43 13 10 187 35 +152 142 2.152 8 9 9 12 54 43 7 4 164 24 +140 136 2.519 9 12 6 6 75 39 19 17 139 62 +77 136 1.813 10 11 6 6 67 40 8 19 151 62 +89 128 1.910 11 18 3 4 100 37 17 46 167 181 –14 128 1.280 12 9 7 11 50 41 4 5 162 19 +143 127 2.540 13 10 10 11 55 39 10 6 119 37 +82 127 2.309 14 12 8 8 71 37 11 23 106 62 +44 122 1.718 15 18 3 4 106 31 27 48 133 158 –25 120 1.132 16 9 9 9 53 37 7 9 125 43 +82 118 2.226 17 12 8 11 66 32 17 17 139 63 +76 113 1.712 18 13 5 6 73 33 10 28 124 99 +25 108 1.479 19 9 2 3 65 26 14 25 91 81 +10 92 1.415 20 14 5 6 72 26 13 33 116 111 +5 91 1.264 21 8 7 6 51 26 11 14 81 55 +26 89 1.745 22 14 1 2 88 25 14 49 97 170 –73 89 1.011 23 11 2 2 84 23 18 43 104 150 –46 87 1.036 24 5 5 6 32 27 2 3 92 13 +79 83 2.594 25 6 2 2 50 22 11 17 82 66 +16 77 1.540 26 12 3 5 75 21 15 39 80 119 –39 78 1.040 27 6 2 2 49 22 7 20 73 74 –1 73 1.490 28 7 1 1 59 21 7 31 76 160 –84 70 1.186 29 6 3 4 46 19 8 19 84 52 +32 65 1.413 30 6 3 3 40 18 7 15 71 57 +14 61 1.525 31 10 1 1 59 15 10 34 64 155 –91 55 0.932 32 11 2 2 70 16 3 51 86 184 –98 51 0.723 33 7 1 1 51 12 8 31 46 143 –97 44 0.863 34 7 0 0 55 9 14 32 43 134 –91 41 0.745 35 10 1 1 69 7 17 45 43 170 –127 38 0.551 36 9 0 0 52 10 4 38 42 151 –109 34 0.654 37 7 0 0 53 9 4 40 45 150 –105 31 0.585 38 5 0 0 40 7 3 30 28 186 –158 24 0.600 39 12 0 0 53 5 7 41 27 142 –115 22 0.415 40 8 0 0 53 6 4 43 23 187 –164 22 0.415 41 5 0 0 24 6 1 17 18 52 –34 19 0.792 42 5 0 0 27 5 4 18 18 80 –62 19 0.704 43 8 0 0 28 5 2 21 23 64 –41 17 0.607 44 7 0 0 25 5 1 19 12 102 –90 16 0.640 45 4 0 0 28 4 2 22 21 90 –69 14 0.500 46 2 0 0 8 4 0 4 9 9 0 12 1.500 47 1 1 4 6 3 2 1 10 8 +2 11 1.833 48 6 0 0 28 3 1 26 14 125 –111 10 0.357 49 1 0 1 3 0 1 2 1 4 –3 1 0.333
Teams yet to qualify for the finals tournament
Legend – Did not qualify – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown (in parentheses).
Team (14) 1956 (4) 1960 (4) 1964 (4) 1968 (5) 1972 (6) 1976 (6) 1980 (8) 1984 (8) 1988 (8) 1992 (8) 1996 (12) 2000 (12) 2004 (16) 2007 (16) 2011 (16) 2015 (16) 2019 (24) 2023 (24) 2027 (24) Attempts × × × × × • • • × × × × • × • • • • • 8 × × × × × × × × × × × • • × • • • • • 6 × × × × • • × × × × × • • × • × • • • 7 Part of Part of × • × × × • × • 2 × × × × × × × × × × • • • × • • × • × 6 Part of • •UEFA member 2 × × × × × × × × × × × • • × × • • • • 5 × × × × × × • × × • • • • × • • • • • 9 Part of × × × × × × × • • • × • • • • • 7 Not AFC member • • × • • • • • 6 Not AFC member × × × • • × • • • × • • • • • 9 Not AFC member × • × × × 1 × • × • × × × • • • • • • • • • • • • 13 × × × × • × • • × × • • • × • • • • • 10
See also AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification AFC Nations League AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament FIFA World Cup qualification FIFA Women's World Cup qualification UEFA European Championship qualifying UEFA Women's Championship qualifying CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification
Notes
References
External links AFC Asian Cup Official Website AFC Asian Cup, AFC.com