With the expansion of 32 to 48 participants, Asia has now qualified instead of five for the 2026 World Cup co-organized in Canada, the United States and Mexico. And we already know the first six Asian countries qualified for this World Cup 26. Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Japan and Australia arrived in the first two of the three groups of the playoffs and validated their sesame. But Asian qualifications are not over, especially for Qatar.
A fourth round will thus bring together six teams, the 3rd and 4th of the three hens, which will be drawn in two groups on July 17. Indonesia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will compete for the last “direct” tickets for the Club World Cup, on October 8, 11 and 14.
AFC, the Asian Confederation, has announced that Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be the two organizing countries of the two mini-championships and this will give a major advantage to the Annabi (the Grenats) and the green hawks. Yet double reigning Asian champions, the Qatarians were preceded by the Iranians, the Uzbèks and the Emiriens, even making a zero result in North Korea during the second day (2-2).
Qatar and Saudi Arabia expected
The Saudi kingdom, the future host country of the 2034 World Cup, should not be missed either. With Hervé Renard at the helm, the Saudis did not manage to qualify due to several counter-performance in group C of Japan and Australia (3 victories, 4 draws, 3 defeats) to be widely preceded by blue samurai (10 points) and then by the Socceroos. The Australians even imposed themselves on the last day in Djeddah (1-2).
Note that the two seconds of the fourth round will then compete in a round trip, on November 13 and 18, to represent Asia at the intercontinental dam of the 2026 World Cup scheduled in March 2026 with six national teams (only Europe will not have a selection during this mini-tournoi).
