Iranian football player of Turkmen origin Serdar Azmoun commented on his social media page on the results of the draw for the second round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

“See you soon, Turkmenistan”, - he wrote.

Earlier it was reported that according to the results of the draw, the national team of Turkmenistan got into group “E”, where it will play with Iran, Uzbekistan and with the winner of the pair of the first qualifying round Hong Kong - Bhutan.

In total, 36 teams will take part in the second round of the qualifying tournament, which are divided into 9 quartets. The top two teams from each group will advance to the next round of selection.

The national team of Turkmenistan will start in the qualifying tournament of the 2026 World Cup on November 16, 2023 with a home match against Uzbekistan. In the second round, she will play on November 21, 2023 away with the winner of the Hong Kong-Bhutan pair. The remaining four games of the second qualifying round will be held in 2024.

On March 21, Mergen Orazov's wards will play in Tehran with Iran, and on March 26 they will play the return match with the same team in Turkmenistan. In the 5th round of the qualifying stage of the 2026 World Cup, the Turkmen team will meet on June 6 in Tashkent with Uzbekistan, and in the final qualifying match they will play at home on June 11 with the winner of the Hong Kong-Bhutan pair.