The draw for the third round of the Asian qualifiers – the road to the 2026 World Cup – placed the Saudi team in the iron group (third); which includes the teams of Japan, Australia, Bahrain, China and Indonesia, after their draw in the Malaysian capital (Kuala Lumpur), where the 18 teams qualified for the third round of the Asian qualifiers were divided into three groups, so that each The group consisted of six teams, competing in a league system divided into two first-leg legs. And the return leg will open its qualifying campaign by meeting Indonesia on September 5, 2024 in Riyadh, then leave for China to play the second leg. second match against the Dragons on September 10, 2024. The team will host its Japanese counterpart on October 10, 2024, after which it will meet its Bahraini brother in Manama on the same day and complete the first-round matches. facing Australia in Sydney on November 14, 2024, then goes to Indonesia to play the sixth round in Jakarta on November 19, 2024, and on March 20, 2025, the (Greens) host China, then fly to Tokyo to play the match against Japan on March 25, 2025, and will meet the Bahraini national team in its ninth match in Manama on June 5, 2025, before concluding it with a meeting with the Australian national team on June 10, 2025. This version of the Qualifiers is similar to the 2018 version, when (the Greens) had arrived in the same group as Japan and Australia and were able to qualify on merit. He deserves to participate in the World Cup in Moscow.
The Asian continent has eight direct seats for the 2026 World Cup finals, which will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States, with the possibility of securing a ninth seat in the global qualifiers.
The first group included Iran, facing Qatar – champions of the 2023 Asian Cup – Uzbekistan, the Emirates, Kyrgyzstan and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
On the other hand, the second group included the Republic of Korea team facing five teams from West Asia. These are Iraq, Jordan – vice-champion of the 2023 Asian Cup – Oman, Palestine and Kuwait.
The top two teams from each of the three groups qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup, reserving six of the eight direct seats available to the Asian Football Confederation, while the third and fourth placed teams (six teams) qualify for the playoffs Asians. whose matches are played in a round-robin league system, so that the first in each group qualifies for the World Cup.
On the other hand, the two teams that finished second in the Asian qualifiers will play a home-and-away clash to determine the team that qualifies for the global qualifiers.
Asian qualifying – the road to the 2026 World Cup – will begin with the first round on September 5 this year, with the final round taking place on June 10, 2025.
