2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

The Asian part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification is the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It is for the national teams who are members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Besides from Qatar (who qualified automatically as hosts), there a total of 4 or 5 slots (4 direct slots and 1 possible inter-confederation play-off slot) to the World Cup.
The tournament has four rounds; the first two rounds also being qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup (which is why Qatar plays in the first two rounds). The first round would have also been qualifiers for the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup but it was cancelled.
Format
The qualification format is as follows:
First round: Twelve teams (ranked 35-46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
Second round: Forty teams (ranked 1-34 and six first-round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. Originally, the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up were supposed advance to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification, as well as qualified for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. However, since Qatar won their group, the fifth-best runners-up took their place in the third round.
Third round: Twelve teams that advanced from the second round will be divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group will qualify for the World Cup, and the third-placed teams will advance to the fourth round.
Fourth round: The two third-placed teams from the third round will play a single match. The winner will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Entrants
All 46 FIFA associations from AFC entered qualification. The FIFA World Rankings from April 2019 was used to determine who would play in the first round. The second and third rounds used the FIFA World Rankings at the time of the draw.
Because the qualification format was for both the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers, both Qatar (automatically qualifying to the World Cup as hosts) and China PR (automatically qualifying to the Asian Cup as hosts) entered the second round. Qatar played for qualification to the Asian Cup, and China to the World Cup.
Timor-Leste was banned from playing in the Asian Cup qualifiers after they fielded 12 players they weren't able to play in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification. FIFA did not ban them from the World Cup qualifiers though, so Timor-Leste was allowed to enter the competition. They are not able to qualify to the Asian Cup but they can qualify to the World Cup.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition according to the FIFA International Match Calendar.
First round
The draw for the first round was held on 17 April 2019 at 11:00 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Second round
The draw for the second round was held on 17 July 2019 at 17:00 MST (UTC+8), at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Summary
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
North Korea withdrew from the qualifying round because of COVID-19 concerns.
Ranking of runner-up teams
Because North Korea withdrew from Group H, games against the fifth-placed teams of each group were not counted in the ranking of the runner-up teams.
Third round
The third round consists of two groups of six teams. The first two teams in each group will qualify for the World Cup. The two third-placed teams proceed to the fourth round. The draw was held on 1 July 2021 in Malaysia.
Group A
Group B
Fourth round
The two third-placed teams in each group from the third round will play against each other in a single match to decide which team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.
The host city and venue for this match will be announced during the draw for this round.
Inter-confederation play-off
The inter-confederation play-off was determined by a draw held on 26 November 2021. The fifth-placed team from AFC was drawn against the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL. The play-off is scheduled to be played as a single match in Qatar on 13 or 14 June 2022.
Qualified teams
The following teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.