2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification – Third Round


The third round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification was played from 26 March 2017 to 27 March 2018.

Format

A total of 24 teams compete in the third round to compete for the final 12 slots in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. Since the hosts United Arab Emirates advanced to the third round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, the automatic slot for the hosts is no longer necessary.
The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group will qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, where they are joined by the 12 teams which qualified directly from the second round.

Qualified teams

;Teams qualified from second round
GroupRunners-up Third placeFourth place
A——
B—
C——
D
E—
F——
G
H

;Notes
;Teams qualified from play-off round

;Teams qualified from Solidarity Cup
Due to the withdrawal of Guam and the suspension of Kuwait, the AFC invited both Nepal and Macau, the top two teams of the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup, to re-enter 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification as replacements in order to maintain 24 teams in the third round of the competition.
Finalists

Draw

The draw for the third round was held on 23 January 2017, 16:00 GST, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was initially scheduled for 18 January 2017, but was delayed.
The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four. They were seeded using the January 2017 FIFA World Rankings.
The national teams which eventually qualified are presented in bold.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

Schedule

The schedule of each matchday was as follows.
MatchdayDatesMatches
Matchday 128 March 20171 v 4, 3 v 2
Matchday 213 June 20174 v 3, 2 v 1
Matchday 35 September 20174 v 2, 1 v 3
Matchday 410 October 20172 v 4, 3 v 1
Matchday 514 November 20174 v 1, 2 v 3
Matchday 627 March 20181 v 2, 3 v 4

Groups

Group A


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Group B


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Group C


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Group D


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Group E


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Group F


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Goalscorers

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