The pots for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers have been set with Pakistan drawn in pot 4, the lowest pot, in the draw. According to details, nine teams each have been drawn in the first three pots, with the top 25 ranked teams in Asia guaranteed to play the 2nd round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The teams ranked from 26 to 46 will play a one-off qualifier to book their place in the second round of the qualifiers. The draw for the first round of qualifiers will take place on 27 June, which will determine which teams play against each other in the play-offs.
The top 25 teams and the 11 qualified teams will make a total of 36 teams that will play in the Asian qualifiers’ second round for the FIFA World Cup 2026. which is set to be played in USA, Mexico, and Canada.
The 36 teams will be divided into eight groups consisting of four teams each and the top two teams at the end of the round will be guaranteed a place in the Asian Cup and will also move to the third round of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers.
The top eight teams will directly qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026 while one additional team from Asia will get a play-off spot, which will be competed between six confederations except UEFA.
According to the details, nine teams that have been drawn in pot 1 of the qualifiers include Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and UAE.
The second pot includes the likes of China, Jordan, Palestine, and India.
Pakistan has been drawn in pot 4 alongside the likes of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Maldives, and Afghanistan.
Here are the complete pots:
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
Japan China Lebanon Indonesia
Iran Jordan Tajikistan Taiwan
Australia Bahrain Thailand Maldives
South Korea Syria North Korea Yemen
Saudi Arabia Vietnam Philippines Afghanistan
Qatar Palestine Malaysia Myanmar
Iraq Kyrgyzstan Turkmenistan Nepal
Oman India Kuwait Cambodia
UAE Uzbekistan Hong Kong Macau
Mongolia
Bhutan
Laos
Brunei
Bangladesh
Timor-Leste
Pakistan
Guam
Sri Lanka*
*Subject to FIFA ban
The top 25 teams from the first three pots (except Kuwait and Hong Kong) will directly play in the second round.
