# 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round

The third round of AFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification was played from 1 September 2016 to 5 September 2017.

## Format

A total of twelve teams which advanced from the second round (the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up) were divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the two third-placed teams advanced to the fourth round.

## Qualified teams

| Group (Second round) | Winners | Runners-up (Best 4) |
| A | Saudi Arabia | United Arab Emirates |
| B | Australia | — |
| C | Qatar | China |
| D | Iran | — |
| E | Japan | Syria |
| F | Thailand | Iraq |
| G | South Korea | — |
| H | Uzbekistan | — |

## Seeding

The draw for the third round was held on 12 April 2016, at 16:30 MST (UTC+8), at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The seeding were based on the FIFA World Rankings of April 2016 (shown in parentheses below). The twelve teams were seeded into six pots:
* Pot 1 contained the teams ranked 1–2.
* Pot 2 contained the teams ranked 3–4.
* Pot 3 contained the teams ranked 5–6.
* Pot 4 contained the teams ranked 7–8.
* Pot 5 contained the teams ranked 9–10.
* Pot 6 contained the teams ranked 11–12.
Each group contained one team from each of the six pots. The fixtures of each group were automatically decided based on the respective pot of each team.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the World Cup. Italicised teams qualified for the fourth round.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
| Iran (42) Australia (50) | South Korea (56) Japan (57) | Saudi Arabia (60) Uzbekistan (66) |
| Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
| United Arab Emirates (68) China (81) | Qatar (83) Iraq (105) | Syria (110) Thailand (119) |

## Groups

* 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers
* In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):
* Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
* Overall goal difference
* Overall goals scored
* Points in matches between tied teams
* Goal difference in matches between tied teams
* Goals scored in matches between tied teams
* Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
* Fair play points
* first yellow card: minus 1 point
* indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points
* direct red card: minus 4 points
* yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
* Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | | | |
| 1 | Iran | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 22 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| 2 | South Korea | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 15 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 3–2 |
| 3 | Syria | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 13 | Fourth round | 0–0 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 |
| 4 | Uzbekistan | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 13 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| 5 | China | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 12 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–0 |
| 6 | Qatar | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 7 | | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | | | |
| 1 | Japan | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 20 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 4–0 |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 10 | +7 | 19 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | 1–0 | — | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Australia | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 19 | Fourth round | 1–1 | 3–2 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 13 | −3 | 13 | | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | 3–1 |
| 5 | Iraq | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 12 | −1 | 11 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 4–0 |
| 6 | Thailand | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 24 | −18 | 2 | | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | — |

## Goalscorers

There were 129 goals scored in 60 matches, for an average of 2.15 goals per match.
5 goals
* Tomi Juric
* Mohannad Abdul-Raheem
* Nawaf Al-Abed
* Ahmed Khalil
4 goals
* Sardar Azmoun
* Genki Haraguchi
* Hassan Al-Haydos
* Ali Mabkhout
3 goals
* Mile Jedinak
* Mathew Leckie
* Mehdi Taremi
* Mahmoud Al-Mawas
* Omar Kharbin
2 goals
* Nguyen Xuan Son
* Saad Abdul-Amir
* Takuma Asano
* Yuya Kubo
* Akram Afif
* Fahad Al-Muwallad
* Mohammad Al-Sahlawi
* Yahya Al-Shehri
* Ki Sung-yueng
* Koo Ja-cheol
* Teerasil Dangda
* Marat Bikmaev
1 goal
* Tim Cahill
* Jackson Irvine
* Massimo Luongo
* Tom Rogic
* Trent Sainsbury
* Hao Junmin
* Wu Lei
* Wu Xi
* Xiao Zhi
* Yu Dabao
* Yu Hai
* Reza Ghoochannejhad
* Jalal Hosseini
* Alireza Jahanbakhsh
* Ayman Hussein
* Mahdi Kamil
* Justin Meram
* Ahmed Yasin
* Keisuke Honda
* Yosuke Ideguchi
* Shinji Kagawa
* Hiroshi Kiyotake
* Yasuyuki Konno
* Shinji Okazaki
* Yuya Osako
* Hotaru Yamaguchi
* Maya Yoshida
* Ali Assadalla
* Sebastián Soria
* Salem Al-Dawsari
* Taisir Al-Jassim
* Salman Al-Moasher
* Nasser Al-Shamrani
* Omar Hawsawi
* Hong Jeong-ho
* Hwang Hee-chan
* Ji Dong-won
* Lee Chung-yong
* Nam Tae-hee
* Son Heung-min
* Ahmad Al Salih
* Omar Al Somah
* Tamer Haj Mohamad
* Pokklaw Anan
* Tana Chanabut
* Mongkol Tossakrai
* Ismail Matar
* Odil Ahmedov
* Alexander Geynrikh
* Egor Krimets
* Otabek Shukurov
1 own goal
* Zheng Zhi (against South Korea)
* Ahmad Ibrahim (against Thailand)
* Tanaboon Kesarat (against Saudi Arabia)