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.[1]
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.[2] 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.
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.[4] 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.
First ever participation of Bhutan. Recorded for the qualifications of 2010, this selection withdrew without playing a game (initial draw preview first round against Kuwait)
^ abcOn 12 December 2017, Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Mongolia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.
^ abcdefOn 12 December 2017, AFC decided to forfeit the first five matches involving Timor-Leste – both v Malaysia, home v United Arab Emirates, away v Saudi Arbia, and home v Palestine due to the use of falsified documents for their players of Timor-Leste.[13]
^United Arab Emirates already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation.
^Match abandoned after 87 minutes due to a group of supporters throwing flares at the pitch. A month later, FIFA awarded Saudi Arabia 3–0 win.[14][15]
^Indonesia was also drawn into this group, but on 30 May 2015 the country's football association was suspended due to governmental interference,[18] and on 3 June 2015 the team was disqualified and all matches involving it were cancelled.[19]
^ abcdDuring this stage the Kuwait Football Association was suspended after the country had failed to comply with a decision from FIFA that its sports law had to be changed. The three remaining matches involving Kuwait – away v Myanmar, home v Laos, and away v South Korea – were not played as scheduled, and were eventually awarded as 3–0 wins for Kuwait's opponents.[20][21][22] Kuwait was also unable to compete in the Third round of the Asian Cup qualifying, to which it would have advanced based on its ranking.
^FIFA awarded North Korea a 3–0 win as a result of Yemen fielding the ineligible player Mudir Al-Radaei, after North Korea had defeated Yemen 1–0. Al-Radaei failed to serve an automatic one match suspension for receiving two yellow cards earlier in the First round of the competition.[23]
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)
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.[24]
Source: FIFA Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fourth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Fair play points; 5) Drawing of lots. Notes:
^United Arab Emirates already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation.
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 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.[28] 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.[29]
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.[30] The fifth-placed team from AFC was drawn against the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF, with the AFC team hosting the second leg.[31]
^Kuwait were disqualified after playing five matches. Indonesia were also disqualified before playing.
^ abcdeThis player's goal tally includes one or more goals which the player scored in matches that were subsequently forfeited, but which FIFA still continued to count in its statistics.
