2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification
The 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification is the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation to determine the participating teams for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, the 18th edition of the international men's football championship of Asia. Since 2019, the Asian Cup final tournament is contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015.
The qualification process involves four rounds, where the first two rounds double as the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams. The first two rounds also act as qualifiers for the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup as the six teams which are eliminated from the first round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup joint qualifiers and the four teams which are eliminated from the play-off round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers will qualify for that.
Format
The qualification structure is as follows:- First round: 12 teams played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advance to the second round.
- Second round: 40 teams 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 will advance to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification as well as qualify for the AFC Asian Cup.
- *The next 16 highest ranked teams will advance directly to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
- *The remaining 12 teams will enter the play-off round to contest the remaining eight spots in the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
- Play-off round: There are two rounds of home-and-away two-legged play-off matches that will determine the final eight qualifiers for the third round.
- Third round: The 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches, and they will compete for the remaining slots of the Asian Cup.
Entrants
Due to the joint format of the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers, both Qatar and China will also enter the second round of Asian Cup qualifiers.
The following restrictions will be applied:
- Northern Mariana Islands, which is not a FIFA member, are ineligible to enter.
- Timor-Leste was barred from participating in the Asian Cup qualification after being found to have fielded a total of 12 ineligible players in 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches, among other competitions. However, as FIFA did not bar them from the World Cup qualifiers, Timor-Leste was allowed to enter the competition, but was ineligible to qualify for the Asian Cup.
| Bye to the second round | Competing in first round |
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is expected to be as follows:On 9 March 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that the second round matches on matchdays 7–10 due to take place in March and June 2020 were postponed to later dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the new dates to be confirmed. However, subject to approval by FIFA and AFC, and agreement of both member associations, the matches may be played as scheduled provided that the safety of all individuals involved meets the required standards. On 5 June 2020, AFC confirmed that Matchdays 7 and 8 were scheduled to take place on 8 and 13 October respectively while Matchdays 9 and 10 were scheduled to kick off on 12 and 17 November.
First roundThe draw for the first round took place on 17 April 2019 at 11:00 MST, at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.The six teams eliminated from this round progressed to the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup. Second roundThe draw for the second round was held on 17 July 2019 at 17:00 MST, at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.The seeding is based on the FIFA World Rankings of June 2019.
GroupsGroup AChina has already qualified for the AFC Asian Cup as hosts. Participation in this round is for the parallel FIFA World Cup qualification.Group BGroup CGroup DGroup EQatar has already qualified for the World Cup as hosts. Participation in this round is for the parallel Asian Cup qualification.Group FGroup GGroup HRanking of runner-up teamsRanking of fourth-placed teamsPlay-off roundA total of eight slots for the third round will be available from this round. The four teams eliminated from this stage will progress to the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup.Third roundA total of 24 teams will compete in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. The number of remaining Asian Cup final slots available for the third round of the qualifiers will differ according to the following: If the 2023 hosts China advance to the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts will no longer be necessary, and a total of 12 slots for the Asian Cup will be available from this round. However, if they do not advance, a total of 11 slots will be available, as the hosts qualify automatically for the Asian Cup.Qualified teamsThe following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament.
Notes: Goalscorers |