2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification

2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification
The 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification is the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, the 19th 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 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams.
Format
The qualification structure is as follows:
First round: 20 teams (ranked 27–46) will play home-and-away over two legs.
10 winners advance to the second round.
1 best ranked losing team advance to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
9 worst ranked losing teams advance to the play-off round of Asian Cup qualification.
Second round: 36 teams (ranked 1–26 and 10 first-round winners) are divided into 9 groups of 4 teams to play home-and-away double round-robin matches.
The 9 group winners and 9 group runners-up qualify for the Asian Cup along with host Saudi Arabia and advance to the third round of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The remaining 18 advance directly to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
Play-off round: 10 teams (9 worst ranked losing teams from the first round + Northern Mariana Islands) will play home-and-away over two legs that determine the final five qualifiers for the third round.
Third round: 24 teams (1 best ranked losing team from first round + 18 third and fourth-placed teams from the second round + 5 winners from the play-off round) will be divided into 6 groups of 4 teams to play home-and-away double round-robin matches and the winner of each group will occupy the remaining 6 slots for the Asian Cup.
Entrants
Forty-six FIFA-affiliated nations are eligible to enter the joint qualification process for both the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup; Northern Mariana Islands, which is not a FIFA member, will enter through the playoff round.
The draw for the first and second rounds of joint qualification took place on 27 July 2023. Teams were seeded into four pots. Pots 1, 2 and 3 contain the teams ranked 1–9, 10-18 and 19-26 respectively, while Pot 4 contains the remaining 20 teams (ranked 27–46). All teams from Pot 4 were drawn to the first round into two pots. Teams from Pots 1, 2 and 3 were drawn directly to the second round, along with an allocated first-round tie winner.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is expected to be as follows, according to the AFC Competitions Calendar. This is the first Asian Cup qualification that starts before the previous final matches would be held, as the 2023 AFC Asian Cup was postponed to early 2024.
First round
The draw for the first round was held on 27 July 2023 at 14:00 MST (UTC+8) at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Summary
Ranking of best losing teams
Second round
The draw for the second round was held on 27 July 2023 at 16:00 MST (UTC+8) at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Play-off round
Qualified teams
Third round
Qualified teams
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Qualified teams
A total of 24 teams will qualify for the final tournament including the host Saudi Arabia.
Top goalscorers
Below is full goalscorers lists for all rounds:
First round
Second round
Play-off round
Third round
See also
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
Notes
References
Qualification
2027
2023 in Asian football
2024 in Asian football
2025 in Asian football
2026 in Asian football