2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for Asia. 44 Asian teams are affiliated with FIFA, but Cambodia, Philippines, Bhutan and Brunei decided not to take part, and Myanmar was banned from the competition (for refusing to play a qualifier in Iran during 2002 qualifying), so a total of 39 teams took part, competing for 4.5 places in the World Cup. Format. The qualification was composed of three rounds. Only the 14 last ranked teams according to FIFA took part in the Preliminary Round, where they  were paired 2-by-2 and played home-and-away knock-out matches. The 7 winners joined the other 25 teams in the Second Round, where those 32 teams were divided in 8 groups of four teams each. The teams in each group would play against each other home-and-away, and the team with most points in each group would advance to the Third Round. In the Third Round, the 8 remaining teams were divided in two groups of 4 teams each, that would again play against each other in a home-and-away basis. The two teams with most  points in each group would qualify to the World Cup. The two third placed teams would play-off against each other home-and-away. Winner of this play-off would play against the fourth placed team in the Final Round of CONCACAF in an intercontinental play-off for a place in the World Cup. First round. Guam and Nepal were scheduled to play against each other on November 21 and 25; Nepal withdrew, so Guam progressed to the 2nd round, but Guam later withdrew. FIFA then decided to elect a "lucky loser", to select the best of the teams that  lost, to advance to the Second Round. The losers were compared, using the following criteria to break ties: a) number of points; b) goal difference; c) goals scored. Laos advanced to the Second Round. Second round. In the second round, the 25 teams who received byes, as well as the 7 play-off round winners, were split into eight groups of four teams each. Teams played home-and-away games with the other teams in their group, and the top-ranked team qualified for the third round. Third round. In the third round, the 8 teams who won their groups  in the earlier round were split into two groups of four teams each. Teams played home-and-away games with the other teams in their group, and the top two teams qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, the third-placed teams entered a play-off to determine who would contest the AFC–CONCACAF play-off. Fourth round. Teams finishing 3rd in the third round groups played each other to determine a possible 5th qualifier from Asia. The first leg was originally played on 3 September 2005 but the match was ordered to be replayed by FIFA after a  refereeing mistake. With Uzbekistan leading the tie 1–0, a penalty was awarded to them but the referee disallowed the resulting goal and offered an indirect freekick to Bahrain for encroachment. Uzbekistan had formally requested for the match to be recorded as an automatic 3–0 victory. Bahrain advanced to the AFC–CONCACAF play-off on the away goals rule. Inter-confederation play-offs. The Fourth Round winner then played the fourth-placed team of the CONCACAF qualifying group, Trinidad and Tobago, in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup  finals. Qualified teams. The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament. Goalscorers. There were 401 goals scored in 136 matches (including 2 international play-offs), for an average of 2.95 goals per match.