Disclosure of the date for the joint qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup

Today, Sunday evening, the Asian Football Confederation approved the conduct of the joint qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup on July 27, 2023.

In another context, the AFC adopted the new system for the World Cup qualifiers, after expanding the 2026 World Cup to include 48 teams.

The new joint qualifying system will be as follows:

The first round of the joint qualifiers includes 22 teams, which are ranked between 26 to 47 in the world rankings, and meet through two home and away matches, and the 11 winning teams qualify for the second round of the joint qualifiers

The second round of the qualifiers includes 36 teams, classified from 1 to 25, in addition to the 11 winning teams in the first round, and they are divided into 9 groups, so that each group includes 4 teams competing in a split league system from the two rounds, and the first two teams from each group qualify.

The 18 teams will be divided into three groups, so that each group includes 6 teams, competing in a split-league system of two rounds, and the first two teams from each group (total 6 teams) qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup.

As for the Asian supplement, it is scheduled to include the teams that ranked third and fourth in the three groups of the previous round (a total of 6 teams) and will be divided into two groups, so that each group includes 3 teams competing in the split league system from one stage. The two teams that finish first in each group qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup.