AFC Asian Cup qualifiers

AFC Asian Cup qualifiers
Founded1956
RegionAsia and Australia (AFC)
Teams46 (currently eligible)
47 (overall)
Qualifier forAFC Asian Cup
WebsiteOfficial website
2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The AFC Asian Cup qualification[a] 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[b] 1 3[c] 2[b] 1 3[c] 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 5 0[d] 0[d] 0[d]
Total finalists 4 4 4 4 6 6 10 10 10 8 12 12 16 16 16 16 24 24 24
  1. ^ The notation used in the logo for the qualifiers is "AFC Asian Qualifiers".
  2. ^ a b 1 team qualified by walkover
  3. ^ a b 2 teams qualified by walkover
  4. ^ a b c The host qualified automatically for the Asian Cup but participated in the qualification as a World Cup qualifier.

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.[1]

The tournament was expanded to 24 teams from previous number of 16.

The qualification structure is as follows:[1][2]

  • 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.[3]
  • 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.[4] 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.[1]

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:[5][6]

  • 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 will occupy 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 No. CT
1956  Cambodia[A],  Malaya[B],  Philippines,  Republic of China[C],  South Korea,  South Vietnam[D] 6 6
1960  Hong Kong[a],  India[b],  Iran[b],  Israel[c],  Pakistan[b],  Singapore[b] 6 12
1964  Thailand[d] 1 13  Malaysia[B]
1968  Burma[e][E],  Indonesia[f],  Japan[e] 3 16
1972  Bahrain,  Brunei,  Ceylon[g][F],  Iraq,  Jordan,  Kuwait[h],  Lebanon,  Syria 8 24  Khmer Republic[A]
1976  Afghanistan[i],  China,  North Korea,  Qatar,  Saudi Arabia 5 29
1980  Bangladesh[j],  Macau,  United Arab Emirates 3 32  Sri Lanka[F]
1984    Nepal[k],  North Yemen[G],  Oman 3 35
1988  South Yemen[l] 1 36
1992 None 0 36  Chinese Taipei[C]
1996  Guam,  Kazakhstan,  Kyrgyzstan,  Maldives[m],  Tajikistan,  Turkmenistan,  Uzbekistan 7 43  Yemen[G]
 Vietnam[D] 		 Myanmar[E]
2000  Bhutan,  Laos[k],  Mongolia,  Palestine 4 47  Cambodia[A]
2004  Timor-Leste 1 48
2007  Australia 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
  1. ^ Qualified automatically for the 1956 Asian Cup as host.
  2. ^ a b c d Withdrew from the 1956 qualification before playing.
  3. ^ Qualified by walkover for the 1956 finals.
  4. ^ Withdrew from the 1956 and 1960 qualification before playing.
  5. ^ a b Withdrew from the 1956, 1960 and 1964 qualifications before playing.
  6. ^ Withdrew from the 1956 and 1964 qualification before playing. In 1960 Indonesia declined to participate due to an AFC membership dispute
  7. ^ Withdrew from the 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968 qualifications before playing.
  8. ^ Withdrew from the 1968 qualification before playing.
  9. ^ Withdrew from the 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972 qualifications before playing.
  10. ^ Withdrew from the 1976 qualification before playing.
  11. ^ a b Withdrew from the 1972, 1976 and 1980 qualifications before playing.
  12. ^ Qualified automatically for the 1976 finals. Withdrew from the 1980 and 1984 qualifications before playing.
  13. ^ Withdrew from the 1992 qualification before playing.
Successor and renamed teams
  1. ^ a b c Cambodia was renamed as Khmer Republic in the 1972 qualification, then entered the 1980 qualification as  Democratic Kampuchea but withdrew, and in the 2000 qualification again using the name Cambodia
  2. ^ a b Malaya was succeeded by Malaysia from the 1964 qualification.
  3. ^ a b The Republic of China became officially known as Chinese Taipei from the 1992 qualification.
  4. ^ a b South Vietnam was succeeded by Vietnam from the 1996 qualification.
  5. ^ a b Burma was renamed as Myanmar from the 1996 qualification.
  6. ^ a b Ceylon was renamed as Sri Lanka from the 1980 qualification.
  7. ^ a b North Yemen was succeeded by Yemen from the 1994 qualification.

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 through a qualifying process
Team has qualified for the main tournament only automatically as host
Team has not qualified for the main tournament
Team is not a member of AFC but has qualified for the main tournament
Defunct team has qualified for the main tournament only by walkover
Team is not a member of AFC and is not eligible for the main tournament

Teams in bold are currently participating in the 2027 qualification. The table is updated to the matches played in September 2024.

No. Team Qualifying attempts Appearances
in the finals 		Overall qualification record Points
Total Successful Pld W D L GF GA GD Points Avg
1  Iran 13 12 16 76 57 12 7 226 41 +185 183 2.408
2  Qatar 12 10 12 64 46 8 10 152 41 +111 146 2.281
3  South Korea 14 11 16 62 46 7 9 206 25 +181 145 2.339
4  United Arab Emirates 12 11 12 62 45 9 8 169 36 +133 144 2.323
5  China 13 13 14 66 43 13 10 187 35 +152 142 2.152
6  Thailand 16 7 8 87 40 17 30 164 116 +48 137 1.575
7  Saudi Arabia 9 9 12 54 43 7 4 164 24 +140 136 2.519
8  Jordan 12 6 6 75 39 19 17 139 62 +77 136 1.813
7  Syria 14 7 7 74 40 12 22 143 80 +63 132 1.784
10  Oman 11 6 6 67 40 8 19 151 62 +89 128 1.910
11  Japan 9 7 11 50 41 4 5 162 19 +143 127 2.540
12  Iraq 10 10 11 55 39 10 6 119 37 +82 127 2.309
13  Bahrain 12 8 8 71 37 11 23 106 62 +44 122 1.718
14  Malaysia 18 3 4 94 34 17 43 157 171 –14 119 1.265
15  Uzbekistan 9 9 9 53 37 7 9 125 43 +82 118 2.226
16  Kuwait 12 8 11 66 32 17 17 139 63 +76 113 1.712
17  Hong Kong 18 3 4 100 29 25 46 125 150 –25 112 1.120
18  Vietnam 13 4 5 65 27 10 28 107 97 +10 91 1.400
19  Indonesia 14 5 6 72 26 13 33 116 111 +5 91 1.264
20  North Korea 8 7 6 51 26 11 14 81 55 +26 89 1.745
21  Australia 5 5 6 32 27 2 3 92 13 +79 83 2.594
22  Lebanon 9 2 3 59 22 13 24 77 79 –2 79 1.339
23  Singapore 14 1 2 82 21 12 49 89 166 –77 75 0.915
24  India 12 3 5 69 20 13 36 76 113 –37 73 1.058
25  Yemen 11 1 1 78 19 16 43 84 149 –65 73 0.936
26  Palestine 6 3 4 46 19 8 19 84 52 +32 65 1.413
27  Tajikistan 6 1 1 44 18 9 17 68 63 +5 63 1.432
28  Turkmenistan 6 2 2 43 18 7 18 62 67 –5 61 1.419
29  Myanmar 7 1 1 53 18 6 32 68 149 –81 60 1.132
30  Kyrgyzstan 6 3 3 40 18 7 15 71 57 +14 61 1.525
31  Chinese Taipei 11 2 2 64 16 3 45 81 165 –84 51 0.797
32  Cambodia 7 1 1 51 12 8 31 46 143 –97 44 0.863
33  Philippines 10 1 1 53 11 8 34 48 149 –101 41 0.774
34  Afghanistan 7 0 0 49 9 12 28 39 123 –84 39 0.796
35  Bangladesh 10 1 1 63 6 15 42 37 162 –125 33 0.524
36  Maldives 7 0 0 47 8 4 35 42 137 –95 28 0.596
37  Sri Lanka 9 0 0 46 7 4 35 34 142 –108 25 0.543
38  Pakistan 12 0 0 47 5 5 37 25 131 –106 20 0.426
39  Bhutan 5 0 0 34 6 2 26 24 170 –146 20 0.588
40  Mongolia 5 0 0 24 6 1 17 18 52 –34 19 0.792
41    Nepal 8 0 0 47 5 4 38 18 179 –161 19 0.404
42  Macau 8 0 0 28 5 2 21 23 64 –41 17 0.607
43  Kazakhstan 2 0 0 8 4 0 4 9 9 0 12 1.500
44  Laos 5 0 0 21 3 4 14 14 64 –50 13 0.619
45  Brunei 7 0 0 19 4 1 14 9 80 –71 13 0.684
46  Israel 1 1 4 6 3 2 1 10 8 +2 11 1.833
47  Timor-Leste 4 0 0 22 3 2 17 17 75 –58 11 0.500
48  Guam 6 0 0 28 3 1 26 14 125 –111 10 0.357
49  South Yemen 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
 Afghanistan × × × × × • • • × × × × • × • • • • • 8
 Bhutan × × × × × × × × × × × • • × • • • • • 6
 Brunei × × × × • • × × × × × • • × • × • • • 7
 Timor-Leste Part of  Portugal Part of  Indonesia × • × × × • ×[a] • 2
 Guam × × × × × × × × × × • • • × • • × • × 6
 Kazakhstan[b] Part of  Soviet Union • • UEFA member 2
 Laos × × × × × × × × × × × • • × × • • • • 5
 Macau × × × × × × • × × • • • • × • • • • • 9
 Maldives Part of UK × × × × × × × • • • × • • • • • 7
 Mongolia Not AFC member • • × • • • • • 6
   Nepal Not AFC member × × × • • × • • • × • • • • • 9
 Northern Mariana Islands Not AFC member × • × × × 1
 Pakistan × • × • × × × • • • • • • • • • • • • 13
 Sri Lanka × × × × • × • • × × • • • × • • • • 10

See also

Notes

  1. ^ East Timor were banned from qualifying for the 2023 Asian Cup for using 12 ineligible players between 2011 and 2017 and providing false documents.[7]
  2. ^ Kazakhstan played in two qualification competitions before joining UEFA in 2002, but had never qualified for the Asian Cup.

References

  1. ^ a b c "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". AFC. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  2. ^ "AFC Asian Cup 2019 Competition Regulations". AFC.
  3. ^ "World Cup draw looms large in Asia". FIFA.com. 13 April 2015. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Completing the tournament's qualifying contenders will be the next 16 highest ranked teams, with the remaining 12 sides battling it out in play-off matches to claim the last eight spots.
  4. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". Asian Football Confederation. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Asia's pathway to the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 confirmed". the-afc. Asian Football Confederation. 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Seedings revealed for FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Qualifiers draw". the-AFC. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Federacao Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". The-AFC.com. AFC. 20 January 2017. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
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