Determined 18 teams in the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia

The final match of the second qualifying round on the evening of June 11 determined the remaining 5 names to win tickets to the next round, including Kuwait (Group A), North Korea (B), China (C), Kyrgyzstan (D) and Indonesia (F).

Kuwait beat Afghanistan 1-0 to move from bottom to second in the group. North Korea beat Myanmar 4-1 to overcome Syria, becoming the only team in history to be awarded a 3-0 loss (against Japan in Round 4) and still qualify. China lost 1-0 to South Korea but narrowly missed out on a better head-to-head record against Thailand. Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan drew 1-1 with Oman and Indonesia beat the Philippines 2-0 to keep their right to decide before the final round.

The remaining four runners-up are Uzbekistan (Group E), Saudi Arabia (G), Bahrain (H) and Palestine (I). Meanwhile, the nine winners are Qatar, Japan, South Korea, Oman, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, UAE and Australia.

Of these, 11 teams have participated in the World Cup finals, with South Korea leading the way with 11. Following them are Japan (7), Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia (6), North Korea (2), Kuwait, Iraq, UAE, China and Qatar (1). In the two most recent editions of 2018 and 2022, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia all won tickets.

The seven teams with a chance to make their first World Cup appearance are Oman, Jordan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia.

Japan have won all six of their games, scoring 24 and conceding none. Australia have done the same but have scored two fewer goals. The other unbeaten team is Iraq, with 17 goals and two conceded. The other unbeaten teams are the UAE, South Korea and Qatar, with five wins and one draw, while Iran and Uzbekistan have four wins and two draws each.

Nine teams from Pot One and six from Pot Two have qualified for the third round. The three eliminated teams are also from Pot Two: Vietnam, Syria and India. Their replacements are Kuwait, North Korea – the third seed, and Indonesia, the only fourth seed. The archipelago nation and Palestine have also made history by reaching the third round of the World Cup for the first time.

Central Asia continues to show its strength with 10 representatives passing the second qualifying round. Following are East Asia (4), China and Southeast Asia (2) – as Australia is part of the Southeast Asian Football Confederation. In the previous two editions, Southeast Asia had Thailand in 2018 and Vietnam in 2022, along with Australia, participating in the third qualifying round.

Excluding the match in which North Korea lost 0-3 to Japan, the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia has hosted 107 matches, with 331 goals, an average of 3.09 goals per match. The team that scored the most goals was Japan (24), the team that scored the least were Pakistan and Bangladesh (1). The team that conceded the least goals was Japan and Australia (0), and the team that conceded the most goals was Myanmar (28). Qatar striker Almoez Ali and South Korea's Son Heung-min are leading the scoring list with seven goals each.

The number of spectators attending the stadium was 2,050,915, an average of 19,167 people per match. The most crowded match was Indonesia's 2-0 win over the Philippines in the final round yesterday, with 64,942 people.

The draw for the third qualifying round will be held on June 27, 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There will be six seeding pots based on the most recent FIFA rankings. The 2026 World Cup will be the first time Asia will have 8.5 places, up from 4.5 previously.

The format of the third qualifying round is 18 teams divided into three groups of six teams, selecting the top two teams from each group to participate in the 2026 World Cup. The teams compete from September 5, 2024 to June 10, 2025, with 10 matches held in September, October and November 2024, March and June 2025.

The six third- and fourth-placed teams will advance to the fourth qualifying round, where they will be divided into two groups of three and play one-off matches at a neutral venue. The top two teams will qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The two runners-up will play two-legged play-offs, with the winners advancing to the intercontinental play-offs.