Eight Arab teams have guaranteed participation in the 2027 Asian Cup, and at the same time participate in the decisive third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
The penultimate round matches of the second round were played on Thursday, and witnessed good results for the Arab teams, with the exception of Syria’s defeat from North Korea.
In this round, the Asian teams are divided into 9 teams. The first and second-place finishers qualify for the third round, and are guaranteed participation in the 2027 Asian Cup, scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia.
In the third round, the teams are divided into 3 groups, from which the first and second placed teams qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup, leaving two Asian seats to be determined in the fourth round (the teams that ranked third and fourth in the third round).
The Asian champion and runner-up, Qatar and Jordan, qualified for the third round, as well as the Saudi team, with the pleasant surprise represented by the Palestine team, and Iraq, the Emirates, Oman and Bahrain also arrived.
The final round will be decisive for the Syrian and Kuwaiti teams. The duo has the opportunity to reach the round provided they win and wait for the results of the other teams.
It is noteworthy that the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers will be held from September 2024 to June 2025.
Below we review together the teams that qualified for the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia:
Group 1: Qatar
Group 2: Japan
Group 3: South Korea
Group 4: Oman
Group 5: Iran – Uzbekistan
Group 6: Iraq
Group 7: Saudi Arabia – Jordan
Group 8: UAE – Bahrain
Group 9: Australia – Palestine
