The draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament will take place on July 27 at the headquarters of the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur, FFT reports.
The national team of Turkmenistan will start fighting in the qualifying tournament of the 2026 World Cup starting from the second round.
Under the new AFC rules, in the first qualifying round, the 18 lowest-ranked teams in Asia will form nine pairs, each of which will play home and away on 12 and 17 October 2023. The nine winners of the first round will advance to the second round, where they will be joined by the remaining 27 teams. In the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, 36 teams will be divided into nine groups of four teams each, where the teams will play six matches between November 2023 and June 2024.
At the end of the second round, the nine group winners and the teams that took second places in their quartets will continue to fight in the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and at the same time receive tickets to the final of the 2027 Asian Cup.
The draw for the third round of the 2026 World Cup will take place in 2024. According to its results, 18 teams will be divided into three groups of six teams each. Following the results of the third round, the two best teams from each group will receive tickets to the final part of the 2026 World Cup. Two other direct entrants from Asia will be determined in the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, and another possible spot for the 2026 World Cup will be made available through the Intercontinental Playoffs.
The 18 teams that finish third and fourth in the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers will advance directly to the third and final round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification. More information about the last qualifying stage of the Asian Cup-2027 will be announced later.
