Dates 12 Mar 2015 – 27 Mar 2018 Teams 45 Goals scored 577 | Attendance 2,478,041 Matches played 180 | |
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Similar 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, 2007 AFC Asian Cup, 2015 AFC Asian Cup, 2004 AFC Asian Cup, 1996 AFC Asian Cup | ||
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification is the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the international men's football championship of Asia. For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament will be contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that had been used since 2004.
Contents
- Format
- Entrants
- Schedule
- First round
- Second round
- Ranking of runner up teams
- Ranking of fourth placed teams
- Play off round
- Round 1
- Round 2
- Third round
- Qualified teams
- Goalscorers
- References
The qualification process will involve four rounds, where the first two doubled as the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams.
Format
The proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds for FIFA World Cup qualifiers with those for the Asian Cup was ratified by the AFC Competitions Committee.
The qualification structure is as follows:
The play-off round represented a change from the initially announced qualification format – which saw the remaining fourth-placed teams and the four best group fifth-placed teams also advance to the third round.
Entrants
46 FIFA-affiliated nations from the AFC entered qualification. In order to determine which nations would compete in the first round and which nations would receive a bye through to the second round, the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015 were used (shown in parentheses).
Due to the joint format of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, the hosts of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the United Arab Emirates also entered the second round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers despite having qualified automatically.
Schedule
The schedule of the qualification competition is as follows.
First round
The draw for the first round was held on 10 February 2015, 15:30 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The six teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.
Second round
The draw for the second round was held on 14 April 2015, 17:00 MST (UTC+8), at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Ranking of runner-up teams
To determine the four best runner-up teams, the following criteria are used:
- Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
- Goal difference
- Goals scored
- Play-off match(es) on neutral ground (if approved by FIFA Organizing Committee), with extra time and penalty shoot-out if necessary
As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contains only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team are not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.
Ranking of fourth-placed teams
To determine the four best fourth-placed teams, the following criteria were used:
- Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
- Goal difference
- Goals scored
- Play-off match(es) on neutral ground (if approved by AFC Organizing Committee), with extra time and penalty shoot-out if necessary
As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contains only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team are not counted when determining the ranking of the fourth-placed teams.
Play-off round
At an AFC Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that two rounds of play-off matches would be introduced into the qualification procedure to determine the final eight teams for the main qualifying round.
A total of eight slots for the third round were available from this round (five from round 1, three from round 2). The three teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 April 2016, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Round 1
Except the lowest seeded team (Bhutan), the other ten teams were drawn into five pairs. Each pair played two matches on 2 and 7 June 2016 with the winners qualifying for the third round.
Round 2
The five losers from round 1 joined Bhutan in this round. The six teams were drawn into three pairs. Each pair played two matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.
Third round
A total of 24 teams will compete in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Since the 2019 hosts United Arab Emirates have advanced to the third round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts is no longer necessary, and a total of 12 slots for the AFC Asian Cup will be available from this round.
Due to the withdrawal of Guam and the suspension of Kuwait, the AFC decided to invite both Nepal and Macau, the top two teams of the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup, to re-enter 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification as replacements in order to maintain 24 teams in the third round of the competition.
The draw for the third round was held on 23 January 2017, 16:00 GST, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four.
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the tournament.
Goalscorers
As of all matches played on 11 October 2016Note: Players in bold are still active in the competition.