This thread may seem a little premature, but AFC have announced how the Asian qualifiers for World Cup 2026 will work:
1) Preliminary joint qualification round 1: the teams ranked 26 to 47 are paired and play each other on a home and away basis.
In many ways this is cruelest qualifying round of all. 11 teams will have their World Cup dream ended after only two matches and whilst the timetable hasn't been decided, usually some three years before the World Cup. :(
2) Preliminary joint qualification round 2: The 11 winners from the previous round join the teams ranked 1 to 25. The teams will be divided into nine groups of four. Teams play each other home and away. The top two teams from each group advance to the AFC Asian qualifiers.
3) AFC Asian qualifiers: The 18 teams who advanced from the previous round will be divided into three groups of six. Teams play each other home and away and the top two teams from each group qualify for the 2026 World Cup!
4) Asian Playoff: The third and fourth placed teams from the previous round will be drawn into two groups of three. Teams will play each other once. The two first placed teams will qualify for the World Cup! The second placed teams will compete in a playoff to determine who will represent AFC in the Intercontinental playoff!
AFC will have 8 guaranteed places at World Cup 2026 plus the possibility of a further spot via the Intercontinental playoff.
I know we haven't got Qatar 2022 out of the way yet, but I'm kind of excited that World Cup 2026 is (sort of) getting ready to get under way!
Please use this thread to discuss any World Cup 2026 qualifying news and match reports. Let's honour the biggest World Cup ever with an equally big qualifying thread!
RM
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On 2022-08-04 15:11, Real Mardin wrote:

This thread may seem a little premature, but AFC have announced how the Asian qualifiers for World Cup 2026 will work:

1) Preliminary joint qualification round 1: the teams ranked 26 to 47 are paired and play each other on a home and away basis.

In many ways this is cruelest qualifying round of all. 11 teams will have their World Cup dream ended after only two matches and whilst the timetable hasn't been decided, usually some three years before the World Cup. :(

2) Preliminary joint qualification round 2: The 11 winners from the previous round join the teams ranked 1 to 25. The teams will be divided into nine groups of four. Teams play each other home and away. The top two teams from each group advance to the AFC Asian qualifiers.

3) AFC Asian qualifiers: The 18 teams who advanced from the previous round will be divided into three groups of six. Teams play each other home and away and the top two teams from each group qualify for the 2026 World Cup!

4) Asian Playoff: The third and fourth placed teams from the previous round will be drawn into two groups of three. Teams will play each other once. The two first placed teams will qualify for the World Cup! The second placed teams will compete in a playoff to determine who will represent AFC in the Intercontinental playoff!

AFC will have 8 guaranteed places at World Cup 2026 plus the possibility of a further spot via the Intercontinental playoff.

48 teams seems like too many to me, even if it does enhance the chances
of both Canada and Scotland qualifying for the first time since 1986.
And I hate the fact that it involves groups of 3 teams, which can't be
a good thing (think second round of WC 1982 - except maybe worse with 2
teams going forward - which makes the prospect of biscotti quite real.
But the different amount of rest teams will have had is an issue).

We should see some new teams qualify, though, which will be nice. With
8-9 Asian teams and 9-10 African teams the likelihood is reasonably high
I suspect. Maybe Venezuela might finally make it too, as the 7th
CONMEBOL team. I would be a bit surprised if we get a new CONCACAF participant, with Curacao, Suriname or Guatemala perhaps the most likely first-timers.

I know we haven't got Qatar 2022 out of the way yet, but I'm kind of excited that World Cup 2026 is (sort of) getting ready to get under way!

Please use this thread to discuss any World Cup 2026 qualifying news and match reports. Let's honour the biggest World Cup ever with an equally big qualifying thread!

RM

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* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

On Thursday, August 4, 2022 at 10:11:36 PM UTC+1, Real Mardin wrote:

This thread may seem a little premature, but AFC have announced how the Asian qualifiers for World Cup 2026 will work:

1) Preliminary joint qualification round 1: the teams ranked 26 to 47 are paired and play each other on a home and away basis.

In many ways this is cruelest qualifying round of all. 11 teams will have their World Cup dream ended after only two matches and whilst the timetable hasn't been decided, usually some three years before the World Cup. :(

I agree.

2) Preliminary joint qualification round 2: The 11 winners from the previous round join the teams ranked 1 to 25. The teams will be divided into nine groups of four. Teams play each other home and away. The top two teams from each group advance to the AFC Asian qualifiers.

3) AFC Asian qualifiers: The 18 teams who advanced from the previous round will be divided into three groups of six. Teams play each other home and away and the top two teams from each group qualify for the 2026 World Cup!

4) Asian Playoff: The third and fourth placed teams from the previous round will be drawn into two groups of three. Teams will play each other once. The two first placed teams will qualify for the World Cup! The second placed teams will compete in a playoff to determine who will represent AFC in the Intercontinental playoff!

A bit unsure about this, as having home advantage is unfair, and playing the matches at a neutral venue would, to say the least, be unfair on the fans.
Overall though, it certainly sounds better than what we've had up to now with the "best" 3rd place teams going through etc.
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Il giorno Thu 04 Aug 2022 11:11:34p, *Real Mardin* ha inviato su rec.sport.soccer il messaggio news:041ff2de-ab71-47b7-8b94-ec50f960ed2fn@googlegroups.com. Vediamo
cosa ha scritto:

1) Preliminary joint qualification round 1: the teams ranked 26 to
47 are paired and play each other on a home and away basis.

why only 47?

according to http://www.eloratings.net/Asia there are at least 58 teams
in Asia: maybe not all of them are considered WC teams, i.e. Tibet or
Chagos Islands

Who is missing?

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On Thursday, August 4, 2022 at 11:26:06 PM UTC+1, MH wrote:

On 2022-08-04 15:11, Real Mardin wrote:

This thread may seem a little premature, but AFC have announced how the Asian qualifiers for World Cup 2026 will work:

1) Preliminary joint qualification round 1: the teams ranked 26 to 47 are paired and play each other on a home and away basis.

In many ways this is cruelest qualifying round of all. 11 teams will have their World Cup dream ended after only two matches and whilst the timetable hasn't been decided, usually some three years before the World Cup. :(

2) Preliminary joint qualification round 2: The 11 winners from the previous round join the teams ranked 1 to 25. The teams will be divided into nine groups of four. Teams play each other home and away. The top two teams from each group advance to the AFC Asian qualifiers.

3) AFC Asian qualifiers: The 18 teams who advanced from the previous round will be divided into three groups of six. Teams play each other home and away and the top two teams from each group qualify for the 2026 World Cup!

4) Asian Playoff: The third and fourth placed teams from the previous round will be drawn into two groups of three. Teams will play each other once. The two first placed teams will qualify for the World Cup! The second placed teams will compete in a playoff to determine who will represent AFC in the Intercontinental playoff!

AFC will have 8 guaranteed places at World Cup 2026 plus the possibility of a further spot via the Intercontinental playoff.

48 teams seems like too many to me, even if it does enhance the chances
of both Canada and Scotland qualifying for the first time since 1986.

To be honest when they announced in 2018 that Canada would host one of my earliest thoughts was that Canada v Scotland in Canada could be quite an occasion.

And I hate the fact that it involves groups of 3 teams, which can't be
a good thing (think second round of WC 1982 - except maybe worse with 2 teams going forward - which makes the prospect of biscotti quite real.
But the different amount of rest teams will have had is an issue).

Yeah, be interesting to do a simulation of the tournament sometime and see how many "biscotti" type situations might typically come up. Also, as good as it is that more teams will get to go to the World Cup it's a shame that for many the tournament will be over after just two games, at least under old format teams were guaranteed three matches before having to board the plane home.
RM
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On Saturday, August 6, 2022 at 10:18:15 AM UTC+1, Ammammata wrote:

Il giorno Thu 04 Aug 2022 11:11:34p, *Real Mardin* ha inviato su rec.sport.soccer il messaggio
news:041ff2de-ab71-47b7...@googlegroups.com. Vediamo
cosa ha scritto:

1) Preliminary joint qualification round 1: the teams ranked 26 to
47 are paired and play each other on a home and away basis.

why only 47?

according to http://www.eloratings.net/Asia there are at least 58 teams
in Asia: maybe not all of them are considered WC teams, i.e. Tibet or
Chagos Islands

Who is missing?

Personally I'll confess to having a superficial knowledge of AFC but the official website refers to there being 47 members and the wikipedia entry lists the following as being AFC members:

(Please forgive the formatting and unnecessary info but it was quicker to cut and paste the following from Wikipedia):

Code Name Founded FIFA
affiliation AFC
affiliation IOC
member
ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) (12)
AUS Australia[m 1] 1961 1963 2006 Yes[m 2]
BRU Brunei Darussalam 1952 1972 1969 Yes
CAM Cambodia 1933 1954 1954 Yes
IDN Indonesia 1930 1952 1954 Yes
LAO Laos 1951 1952 1968 Yes
MAS Malaysia 1933 1954 1954 Yes
MYA Myanmar 1947 1948 1954 Yes
PHI Philippines 1907 1930 1954 Yes
SIN Singapore 1892 1952 1954 Yes
THA Thailand 1916 1925 1954 Yes
TLS Timor-Leste 2002 2005 2002 Yes
VIE Vietnam 1960 1952 1954 Yes
Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) (6)
AFG Afghanistan 1933 1948 1954 Yes
IRN Islamic Republic of Iran 1920 1948 1954 Yes
KGZ Kyrgyz Republic 1992 1994 1993 Yes
TJK Tajikistan 1936 1994 1993 Yes
TKM Turkmenistan 1992 1994 1993 Yes
UZB Uzbekistan 1946 1994 1993 Yes
East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) (10)
CHN China 1924 1931 1974 Yes
TPE Chinese Taipei[m 3] 1936 1954 1954 Yes
PRK DPR Korea 1945 1958 1974 Yes
GUM Guam 1975 1996 1991 Yes[m 2]
HKG Hong Kong 1914 1954 1954 Yes
JPN Japan 1921 1921 1954 Yes
KOR Korea Republic 1928 1948 1954 Yes
MAC Macau 1939 1978 1978 No[m 4]
MNG Mongolia 1959 1998 1993 Yes
NMI Northern Mariana Islands 2005 N/A 2020 No[m 5]
South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) (7)
BAN Bangladesh 1972 1976 1974 Yes
BHU Bhutan 1983 2000 1993 Yes
IND India 1937 1948 1954 Yes
MDV Maldives 1982 1986 1984 Yes
NEP Nepal 1951 1972 1954 Yes
PAK Pakistan 1947 1948 1954 Yes
SRI Sri Lanka 1939 1952 1954 Yes
West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) (12)
BHR Bahrain 1957 1968 1969 Yes
IRQ Iraq 1948 1950 1970 Yes
JOR Jordan 1949 1956 1970 Yes
KUW Kuwait 1952 1964 1964 Yes
LBN Lebanon 1933 1936 1964 Yes
OMA Oman 1978 1980 1980 Yes
PLE Palestine 1928 1998 1998 Yes
QAT Qatar 1960 1972 1974 Yes
KSA Saudi Arabia 1956 1956 1972 Yes
SYR Syria 1936 1937 1970 Yes
UAE United Arab Emirates 1971 1974 1974 Yes
YEM Yemen 1962


So that makes 47 members. I can only assume there are some nations who whilst being geographically in Asia aren't signed up as full AFC members,

RM
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On Saturday, August 6, 2022 at 11:18:15 AM UTC+2, Ammammata wrote:

Il giorno Thu 04 Aug 2022 11:11:34p, *Real Mardin* ha inviato su rec.sport.soccer il messaggio
news:041ff2de-ab71-47b7...@googlegroups.com. Vediamo
cosa ha scritto:

1) Preliminary joint qualification round 1: the teams ranked 26 to
47 are paired and play each other on a home and away basis.

why only 47?

according to http://www.eloratings.net/Asia there are at least 58 teams
in Asia: maybe not all of them are considered WC teams, i.e. Tibet or
Chagos Islands

Who is missing?

Scroll up and you'll see that eloratings goes by geography and has a number of UEFA members (Georgia, Israel, Armenia,...) as well as Turkey and Russia listed as Asian.


Ciao,
Werner

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