A Fiery Draw For The Arabs Of Asia In The World Cup Qualifiers

The draw for the final round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup resulted in fiery clashes for the Saudi national team, while 5 Arab teams were placed in one group. The Saudi national team came in the third group, which included the Japanese and Australian teams. The second group included 5 Arab teams: Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, and Kuwait, and will compete with South Korea. The Qatari team, the Asian champion, also came in the first group, along with Iran and the UAE. The Asian Football Confederation drew the draw for the final round of the qualifiers on Thursday morning in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. 18 teams qualified for the final round, occupying first and second place in the second round of qualifiers, which were divided into 3 groups, with 6 teams in each group. The final round of qualifiers will be held in the period between September 2024 and June 2025, knowing that the Asian continent has 8 teams. Direct seats in the World Cup scheduled to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, in addition to a seat in the global playoff. The top two teams from each group qualify directly for the World Cup, reserving 6 of the eight seats available to the Asian Confederation. The teams that ranked third and fourth from each group will be divided into two groups, with the winner of each group qualifying for the World Cup. The two second-place finishers will meet in a decisive confrontation, the winner of which will qualify for the global playoff.
Below are the full results of the draw:
Group One: Iran - Qatar - Uzbekistan - UAE - Kyrgyzstan - North Korea.
The second group: South Korea - Iraq - Jordan - Oman - Palestine - Kuwait.
Group Three: Japan - Australia - Saudi Arabia - Bahrain - China - Indonesia.