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2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

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.

Format

The qualification structure was as follows:[2][3]

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)

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[6][7][8]

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.[9]

Notes
  1. ^ a b c Timor-Leste won the first leg 4–1 and the second leg 1–0, thus winning 5–1 on aggregate and advancing to the Second round. On 12 December 2017 FIFA awarded both matches 3–0 to Mongolia due to Timor-Leste fielding numerous ineligible players. However, this was long after the Second round had been played, so Timor-Leste advanced and Mongolia were not reinstated.

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.[10][11]

Summary

  Qualified for the third round and Asian Cup (except United Arab Emirates) as winners or top four runners-up
  Advanced to the Third Asian Cup qualifying round as bottom four runners-up, third place, or top four fourth placed team
  Advanced to the AFC Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
  Denotes a team that was disqualified as a result of a FIFA suspension.
  1. ^ United Arab Emirates had already qualified as hosts of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, so they were only competing for World Cup qualification.

Groups

Group A

Source: [16]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c d e f Timor-Leste forfeited five group matches due to fielding numerous ineligible players.[13] The original results were: Malaysia 1–1 Timor-Leste; Timor-Leste 0–1 United Arab Emirates; Saudi Arabia 7–0 Timor-Leste; Timor-Leste 1–1 Palestine; Timor-Leste 0–1 Malaysia.
  2. ^ United Arab Emirates already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation.
  3. ^ The Malaysia v Saudi Arabia match was awarded as 0–3, after being abandoned at 1–2 after a group of supporters threw objects onto the pitch.[14][15]

Group B

Source: [16]

Group C

Source: [16]

Group D

Source: [16]
Notes:
  1. ^ FIFA awarded Iran a 3–0 win as a result of India fielding the ineligible player Eugeneson Lyngdoh.[17] The match initially ended 3–0 to Iran.

Group E

Source: [16]

Group F

Source: [16]
Notes:
  1. ^ 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]

Group G

Source: [16]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c d During 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.

Group H

Source: [16]
Notes:
  1. ^ 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:

  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Goal difference
  3. Goals scored
  4. Fair play points
  5. 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.[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:
  1. ^ United Arab Emirates already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation.

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.[25][26]

Groups

Group A

Source: FIFA

Group B

Source: FIFA

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]

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.[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]

Qualified teams

The following five teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

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

There were 665 goals scored in 223 matches, for an average of 2.98 goals per match.

16 goals

11 goals

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:

Notes

  1. ^ Kuwait were disqualified after playing five matches. Indonesia were also disqualified before playing.
  1. ^ a b c d e This 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained". FIFA.com. 30 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". Chollima Football Fans (in Italian). 11 June 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Draw Procedures – Asian Zone" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Road to Russia with new milestone". FIFA.com. 15 January 2015. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015.
  5. ^ "FIFA Men's Ranking – January 2015 (AFC)". FIFA.com. 8 January 2015. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015.
  6. ^ "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2015" (PDF). AFC. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 April 2015.
  7. ^ "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2016" (PDF). AFC. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2017.
  8. ^ "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2017" (PDF). AFC. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 April 2017.
  9. ^ "India v Nepal headlines 2018 World Cup, 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers draw". AFC. 10 February 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015.
  10. ^ "Draw date set for Round 2 of 2018 World Cup, 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers". AFC. 26 March 2015. Archived from the original on 6 March 2015.
  11. ^ "Draw: Russia 2018 / UAE 2019 Joint Qualification Round 2". AFC. 15 April 2015. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016.
  13. ^ "Federacao Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". The-AFC.com. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  14. ^ Rashvinjeet S. Bedi; T. Avineshwaran (8 September 2015). "Malaysia-Saudi match abandoned after crowd trouble". The Star. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  15. ^ "Malaysian FA sanctioned after abandonment of FIFA World Cup qualifier". FIFA.com. 5 October 2015. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h "FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) 2018, football - table and standings". soccer365.me. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  17. ^ "DISCIPLINARY OVERVIEW – 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA QUALIFIERS" (PDF). FIFA. 1 February 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2016.
  18. ^ "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained". FIFA.com. 30 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015.
  19. ^ "Impact of Football Association of Indonesia suspension". AFC. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  20. ^ "Suspension of the Kuwait Football Association". FIFA. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Kuwait sanctioned after unplayed FIFA World Cup™ qualifier". FIFA. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  22. ^ "Kuwait's matches against Laos and Korea Republic forfeited". The-AFC.com. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  23. ^ "Yemen sanctioned for fielding ineligible player". FIFA. 6 July 2015. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  24. ^ "Criteria to Determine the Rankings of Best-placed Teams among the Groups" (PDF). AFC. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 June 2015.
  25. ^ "2018 FIFA World Cup: Asian Qualifying Round 3 line up complete". Asian Football Confederation. 30 March 2016. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016.
  26. ^ "Stage set for Russia 2018 Asian qualifiers Final Round draw". Asian Football Confederation. 10 April 2016. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016.
  27. ^ "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016.
  28. ^ "Draw Mechanics for 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Asian Qualifiers". YouTube. 10 April 2016. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Asian play-off: MD1 (1st leg), 5 Oct 2017, A3 vs B3; MD2 (2nd leg), 10 Oct 2017, B3 vs A3. (Displayed in video at 1:40)
  29. ^ "Australia v Syria World Cup qualifier to be held in Malaysia, AFC confirms". ABC News. 14 September 2017. Archived from the original on 5 October 2017.
  30. ^ "Preliminary Draw procedures outlined". fifa.com. 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  31. ^ "The Preliminary Draw results in full". FIFA.com. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015.

External links