# 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification was a qualification process organized by the AFC to determine the participating teams for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup, hosted by Australia, featured 16 teams.
In the initial scheme, ten places were determined by qualification matches, while six places were reserved for the following:
* Hosts (Australia)
* Top three finishers in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup (Japan, Australia, and South Korea)
* Winners of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup (North Korea)
* Winners of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup (Palestine)
As the host nation Australia also finished as runners-up in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the initial 6 automatic qualification spots were reduced to 5, with a total of 11 spots eventually determined by the qualification matches, in which 20 AFC members compete.

## Qualified teams

| Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance |
| Australia | Hosts | 5 January 2011 | 3rd | 2011 | Runners-up (2011) |
| Japan | 2011 AFC Asian Cup winners | 25 January 2011 | 8th | 2011 | Winners (1992, 2000, 2004, 2011) |
| South Korea | 2011 AFC Asian Cup 3rd place | 28 January 2011 | 13th | 2011 | Winners (1956, 1960) |
| North Korea | 2012 AFC Challenge Cup winners | 19 March 2012 | 4th | 2011 | Fourth place (1980) |
| Bahrain | Group D winners | 15 November 2013 | 5th | 2011 | Fourth place (2004) |
| United Arab Emirates | Group E winners | 15 November 2013 | 9th | 2011 | Runners-up (1996) |
| Saudi Arabia | Group C winners | 15 November 2013 | 9th | 2011 | Winners (1984, 1988, 1996) |
| Oman | Group A winners | 19 November 2013 | 3rd | 2007 | Group Stage (2004, 2007) |
| Uzbekistan | Group E runners-up | 19 November 2013 | 6th | 2011 | Fourth place (2011) |
| Qatar | Group D runners-up | 19 November 2013 | 9th | 2011 | Quarter-finals (2000, 2011) |
| Iran | Group B winners | 19 November 2013 | 13th | 2011 | Winners (1968, 1972, 1976) |
| Kuwait | Group B runners-up | 19 November 2013 | 10th | 2011 | Winners (1980) |
| Jordan | Group A runners-up | 4 February 2014 | 3rd | 2011 | Quarter-finals (2004, 2011) |
| Iraq | Group C runners-up | 5 March 2014 | 8th | 2011 | Winners (2007) |
| China | Best third-placed team | 5 March 2014 | 11th | 2011 | Runners-up (1984, 2004) |
| Palestine | 2014 AFC Challenge Cup winners | 30 May 2014 | 1st | Debut | None |

## Qualification process

The preliminary draw was held in Melbourne on 9 October 2012, 18:00 UTC+11. The twenty teams involved in the qualifiers were drawn into five groups of four teams each, with each group containing one team from each of the following seeding pots. Each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team from among all the groups qualified for the finals.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Uzbekistan  Qatar  Jordan  Iran  Iraq | China  Bahrain  Syria  United Arab Emirates  Kuwait | Saudi Arabia  Oman  Thailand  Yemen  Vietnam | Malaysia  Singapore  Indonesia  Lebanon  Hong Kong |
The following teams did not enter the main qualifying draw, as categorized as "emerging countries" they compete separately. The teams were eligible to qualify for the 2015 Asian Cup by winning either the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup or the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.
* Afghanistan $^†$ $^‡$
* Bangladesh $^†$ $^‡$
* Bhutan $^†$
* Brunei $^‡$
* Cambodia $^†$ $^‡$
* Chinese Taipei $^†$ $^‡$
* Guam $^‡$
* India $^†$ $^‡$
* Kyrgyzstan $^†$ $^‡$
* Laos $^†$ $^‡$
* Macau $^†$ $^‡$
* Maldives $^†$ $^‡$
* Mongolia $^†$ $^‡$
* Myanmar $^†$ $^‡$
* Nepal $^†$ $^‡$
* North Korea $^†$
* Northern Mariana Islands $^‡$
* Pakistan $^†$ $^‡$
* Palestine $^†$ $^‡$
* Philippines $^†$ $^‡$
* Sri Lanka $^†$ $^‡$
* Tajikistan $^†$ $^‡$
* Timor-Leste
* Turkmenistan $^†$ $^‡$
$^†$ Entrants to 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification $^‡$ Entrants to 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification

## Schedule

The following matchdays were assigned by the AFC for 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification. As 15 and 19 November 2013 were also the dates of the inter-confederation playoffs for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a number of alternative matchdays were allocated.
| Year | Matchday | Date |
| 2013 | Matchday 1 | 6 February |
| 2013 | Matchday 2 | 22 March |
| 2013 | Matchday 3 | 15 October |
| 2013 | Matchday 4 | 15 November |
| 2013 | Matchday 5 | 19 November |
| 2014 | Alternative | 11, 18, 25, 31 January 4 February |
| 2014 | Matchday 6 | 5 March |

## Groups

* Key to colours in group tables
* Group winners, runners-up, and best third-placed team qualified for the finals

### Tiebreakers

In each group, the teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss) and tie breakers were in the following order:
* Greater number of points obtained in group matches between the teams concerned
* Goal difference resulting from group matches between the teams concerned
* Greater number of goals scored in group matches between the teams concerned (away goals not applicable)
* Goal difference in all group matches
* Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
* Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were involved and they were both on the field of play
* Drawing of lots

## Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | | | | |
| Oman | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 14 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| Jordan | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 12 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 | 4–0 |
| Syria | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 4–0 |
| Singapore | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 17 | −13 | 3 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–1 | — |

## Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | | | | |
| Iran | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 5 | +13 | 16 | — | 3–2 | 5–0 | 2–1 |
| Kuwait | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 9 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Lebanon | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 14 | −2 | 8 | 1–4 | 1–1 | — | 5–2 |
| Thailand | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 21 | −14 | 0 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 2–5 | — |

## Group C

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | | | | |
| Saudi Arabia | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 16 | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Iraq | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 9 | 0–2 | — | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| China | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 8 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 |
| Indonesia | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — |

## Group D

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | | | | |
| Bahrain | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 14 | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Qatar | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 13 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 6–0 |
| Malaysia | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 7 | 1–1 | 0–1 | — | 2–1 |
| Yemen | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 18 | −15 | 0 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–2 | — |

## Group E

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | | | | |
| United Arab Emirates | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 3 | +15 | 16 | — | 2–1 | 4–0 | 5–0 |
| Uzbekistan | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 11 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Hong Kong | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 13 | −11 | 4 | 0–4 | 0–2 | — | 1–0 |
| Vietnam | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 15 | −10 | 3 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 3–1 | — |

## Ranking of third-placed teams

To determine the best third-placed team, the following criteria were used:
* Number of points obtained in the group matches
* Goal difference in the group matches
* Greater number of goals scored in the group matches
* Fewer points calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for each yellow card, 3 points for each red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for each direct red card, 4 points for each yellow card followed by a direct red card)
* Drawing of lots
| Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| C | China | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 8 |
| B | Lebanon | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 14 | −2 | 8 |
| D | Malaysia | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 7 |
| A | Syria | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 |
| E | Hong Kong | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 13 | −11 | 4 |

## Goalscorers
### 5 goals

* Reza Ghoochannejhad
* Ali Mabkhout

### 4 goals

* Javad Nekounam
* Younis Mahmoud
* Khalfan Ibrahim

### 3 goals

* Faouzi Aaish
* Tha'er Bawab
* Ahmad Hayel
* Yousef Nasser
* Hassan Maatouk
* Walid Abbas
* Ahmed Khalil
* Igor Sergeev

### 2 goals

* Boaz Solossa
* Ashkan Dejagah
* Fahad Awadh
* Hassan Chaito
* Mohammed Ghaddar
* Mohamad Haidar
* Eid Al-Farsi
* Qasim Said
* Sebastián Soria
* Fahad Al-Muwallad
* Yousef Al-Salem
* Nasser Al-Shamrani
* Khairul Amri
* Thitipan Puangchan
* Ismail Al Hammadi
* Habib Fardan
* Sardor Rashidov
* Vokhid Shodiev
* Huỳnh Quốc Anh
* Nguyễn Trọng Hoàng

### 1 goal

* Ismail Abdul-Latif
* Saad Al Amer
* Abdulla Saleh
* Mohamed Salmeen
* Wu Lei
* Wu Xi
* Yu Dabao
* Zhang Xizhe
* Zhao Xuri
* Chan Wai Ho
* Lo Kwan Yee
* Karim Ansarifard
* Jalal Hosseini
* Alireza Jahanbakhsh
* Yaghoub Karimi
* Amir Hossein Sadeghi
* Masoud Shojaei
* Ali Adnan
* Hammadi Ahmad
* Karrar Jassim
* Mossab Al-Laham
* Yusuf Al-Rawashdeh
* Khalil Bani Attiah
* Abdallah Deeb
* Fahad Al-Rashidi
* Waleed Ali
* Hamad Aman
* Hussain Fadel
* Abbas Ali Atwi
* Roda Antar
* Soony Saad
* Azamuddin Akil
* Mohd Amri Yahyah
* Ahmad Fakri Saarani
* Khyril Muhymeen
* Norshahrul Idlan Talaha
* Sami Al-Hasani
* Amad Al Hosni
* Abdulaziz Al-Muqbali
* Ali Afif
* Yusef Ahmed
* Abdulkarim Al-Ali
* Hassan Al-Haydos
* Abdelkarim Hassan
* Jeddo
* Mohammed Kasola
* Taisir Al-Jassim
* Osama Hawsawi
* Naif Hazazi
* Shahril Ishak
* Gabriel Quak
* Ahmad Al Douni
* Abdul Fattah Al Agha
* Oday Jafal
* Omar Khribin
* Sanharib Malki
* Raja Rafe
* Burhan Sahyouni
* Adisak Kraisorn
* Chanathip Songkrasin
* Mongkol Tossakrai
* Teerasil Dangda
* Teeratep Winothai
* Omar Abdulrahman
* Ismail Matar
* Salem Saleh
* Odil Ahmedov
* Shohruh Gadoev
* Nguyễn Anh Đức
* Ayman Al-Hagri
* Mohammed Al-Sarori
* Ala'a Al-Sasi

### Own goals

* Hussain Fadel (playing against Iran)
* Theeraton Bunmathan (playing against Kuwait)
* Âu Văn Hoàn (playing against Uzbekistan)