2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – Third Round
The third round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification will be played from 8 to 14 June 2022 in six centralised venues. It was originally scheduled for 30 March 2021 to 29 March 2022, but the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) changed the dates on multiple occasions due to postponements of matches in the second round, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia. Format. A total of 24 teams (22 teams which advanced from the second round and two teams which will advance from the play-off round) will compete in the third  round to compete for the final 11 slots in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Since the 2023 hosts China advanced to the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts was no longer necessary. The 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four teams to play single round-robin matches in six centralised venues. The group winners and the best five runners-up across all groups will qualify for the Asian Cup, where they are joined by China and by the 12 teams which qualified directly from the second round. On  17 February 2022, The AFC announced the 6 countries that will be hosting the third round: India, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia and Uzbekistan. Seeding. The seeding will be based on the FIFA World Rankings at the time of the draw on 24 February 2022. Teams from the host countries will be placed in a separate pot allotted for Hosts MAs (Member Associations), although their final group positions will reflect their original draw seeding. The 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four. Each group contains one team from the host pot and the remaining seeding pots, except  for the original seeding pot of the host country. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude>