2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Tournament details
Dates	12 March 2015 – 27 March 2018
Teams	46[note 1] (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	252
Goals scored	820 (3.25 per match)
Attendance	3,022,771 (11,995 per match)
Top scorer	Mohammad Al-Sahlawi(14 goals)
←2015 2023 →

The2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification was the qualification process organized by theAsian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the international men'sfootball championship of Asia. For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from2004 to 2015.^[1]

The qualification process involved four rounds, where the first two doubled as the2018 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams.

The qualification structure was as follows:^[1][2]

• First round: A total of twelve teams (teams ranked 35–46) played home-and-away overtwo legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
• Second round: A total of forty teams (teams ranked 1–34 and six first round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-awayround-robin matches.
  • The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up including hostUAE qualified for the AFC Asian Cup finals and advance to the third round of2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
  • The next sixteen highest ranked teams (the remaining four group runners-up, the eight third-placed teams and the four best group fourth-placed teams) advanced directly to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
  • The remaining twelve teams entered the play-off round to contest the remaining eight spots in the third round of Asian Cup qualification.^[3]
• Play-off round: At a Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that a play-off round of qualifying would be introduced into the qualification procedure.^[4] There were two rounds of home-and-away two-legged play-off matches to determine the final eight qualifiers for the third round.
• Third round: The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four to play home-and-awayround-robin matches, and they competed for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

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.^[1]

46 FIFA-affiliated nations from the AFC entered qualification.^[5] In order to determine which nations would compete in the first round and which nations would receive a bye through to the second round, theFIFA World Rankings of January 2015 were used (shown in parentheses).^[6]

Due to the joint format of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, the hosts of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, theUnited Arab Emirates also entered the second round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers despite having qualified automatically.

Northern Mariana Islands, which is not a FIFA member, were not eligible to enter.

The schedule of the qualification competition was as follows.^{[7][8][9][10]}

The draw for the first round was held on 10 February 2015, 15:30MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[11]

The six teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.^[12]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
India	2–0	Nepal	2–0	0–0
Yemen	3–1	Pakistan	3–1	0–0
Timor-Leste	5-1[N 1]	Mongolia	4–1[N 1]	1–0[N 1]
Cambodia	4–1	Macau	3–0	1–1
Chinese Taipei	2–1	Brunei	0–1	2–0
Sri Lanka	1–3	Bhutan	0–1	1–2

Notes

The draw for the second round was held on 14 April 2015, 17:00MST (UTC+8), at the JW Marriott Hotel inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[13][14]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	8	6	2	0	28	4	+24	20	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup		—	2–1	3–2	2–0	7–0[a]
2	United Arab Emirates[b]	8	5	2	1	25	4	+21	17	World Cup qualifying third round		1–1	—	2–0	10–0	8–0
3	Palestine	8	3	3	2	22	6	+16	12	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–0	0–0	—	6–0	7–0
4	Malaysia	8	1	1	6	4	29	−25	4	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round		0–3[c]	1–2	0–6	—	1–1[a]
5	Timor-Leste[a]	8	0	2	6	2	36	−34	2			0–10	0–1[a]	1–1[a]	0–1[a]	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	8	7	0	1	29	4	+25	21	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup		—	5–1	3–0	7–0	5–0
2	Jordan	8	5	1	2	21	7	+14	16	Asian Cup qualifying third round		2–0	—	0–0	3–0	8–0
3	Kyrgyzstan	8	4	2	2	10	8	+2	14			1–2	1–0	—	2–2	2–0
4	Tajikistan	8	1	2	5	9	20	−11	5	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round		0–3	1–3	0–1	—	5–0
5	Bangladesh	8	0	1	7	2	32	−30	1			0–4	0–4	1–3	1–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	8	7	0	1	29	4	+25	21	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup		—	1–0	2–0	4–0	15–0
2	China	8	5	2	1	27	1	+26	17			2–0	—	0–0	4–0	12–0
3	Hong Kong	8	4	2	2	13	5	+8	14	Asian Cup qualifying third round		2–3	0–0	—	2–0	7–0
4	Maldives	8	2	0	6	8	20	−12	6	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round		0–1	0–3	0–1	—	4–2
5	Bhutan	8	0	0	8	5	52	−47	0			0–3	0–6	0–1	3–4	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	8	6	2	0	26	3	+23	20	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup		—	2–0	3–1	6–0	4–0
2	Oman	8	4	2	2	11	7	+4	14	Asian Cup qualifying third round		1–1	—	3–1	1–0	3–0
3	Turkmenistan	8	4	1	3	10	11	−1	13			1–1	2–1	—	1–0	2–1
4	Guam	8	2	1	5	3	16	−13	7			0–6	0–0	1–0	—	2–1
5	India	8	1	0	7	5	18	−13	3	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round		0–3[a]	1–2	1–2	1–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	8	7	1	0	27	0	+27	22	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup		—	5–0	0–0	5–0	3–0
2	Syria	8	6	0	2	26	11	+15	18			0–3	—	1–0	5–2	6–0
3	Singapore	8	3	1	4	9	9	0	10	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–3	1–2	—	1–0	2–1
4	Afghanistan	8	3	0	5	8	24	−16	9			0–6	0–6	2–1	—	3–0
5	Cambodia	8	0	0	8	1	27	−26	0	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round		0–2	0–6	0–4	0–1	—

Indonesia was also drawn into this group, but on 30 May 2015 the country's football association was suspended due to governmental interference,^[21] and on 3 June 2015 the team was disqualified and all matches involving it were cancelled.^[22]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Thailand	6	4	2	0	14	6	+8	14	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup		—	2–2	1–0	4–2	Canc.
2	Iraq	6	3	3	0	13	6	+7	12			2–2	—	1–0	5–1	Canc.
3	Vietnam	6	2	1	3	7	8	−1	7	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–3	1–1	—	4–1	Canc.
4	Chinese Taipei	6	0	0	6	5	19	−14	0	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round		0–2	0–2	1–2	—	Canc.
5	Indonesia[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Disqualified		Canc.	Canc.	Canc.	Canc.	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	8	8	0	0	27	0	+27	24	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup		—	1–0	3–0[a]	4–0	8–0
2	Lebanon	8	3	2	3	12	6	+6	11	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–3	—	0–1	1–1	7–0
3	Kuwait[a]	8	3	1	4	12	10	+2	10	Disqualified		0–1	0–0	—	9–0	0–3[a]
4	Myanmar	8	2	2	4	9	21	−12	8	Asian Cup qualifying third round		0–2	0–2	3–0[a]	—	3–1
5	Laos	8	1	1	6	6	29	−23	4	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round		0–5	0–2	0–2	2–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan	8	7	0	1	20	7	+13	21	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup		—	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–0
2	North Korea	8	5	1	2	14	8	+6	16	Asian Cup qualifying third round		4–2	—	0–0	2–0	1–0
3	Philippines	8	3	1	4	8	12	−4	10			1–5	3–2	—	2–1	0–1
4	Bahrain	8	3	0	5	10	10	0	9			0–4	0–1	2–0	—	3–0
5	Yemen	8	1	0	7	2	17	−15	3	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round		1–3	0–3[a]	0–2	0–4	—

To determine the four best runner-up teams, the following criteria are used:

1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
2. Goal difference
3. Goals scored
4. Fair play points
5. Drawing of lots

As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.^[29]

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	F	Iraq	6	3	3	0	13	6	+7	12	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup
2	E	Syria	6	4	0	2	14	11	+3	12
3	A	United Arab Emirates[a]	6	3	2	1	16	4	+12	11	World Cup qualifying third round
4	C	China	6	3	2	1	9	1	+8	11	World Cup qualifying third round andAsian Cup
5	H	North Korea	6	3	1	2	10	8	+2	10	Asian Cup qualifying third round
6	B	Jordan	6	3	1	2	9	7	+2	10
7	D	Oman	6	2	2	2	6	6	0	8
8	G	Lebanon	6	1	2	3	3	6	−3	5

To determine the four best fourth-placed teams, the following criteria were used:

1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
2. Goal difference
3. Goals scored
4. Fair play points
5. Drawing of lots

As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contained 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.^[29]

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	D	Guam	6	1	1	4	1	14	−13	4	Asian Cup qualifying third round
2	G	Myanmar	6	1	1	4	4	18	−14	4
3	H	Bahrain	6	1	0	5	3	10	−7	3
4	E	Afghanistan	6	1	0	5	4	24	−20	3
5	B	Tajikistan	6	0	1	5	3	19	−16	1	Asian Cup qualifying play-off round
6	F	Chinese Taipei	6	0	0	6	5	19	−14	0
7	C	Maldives	6	0	0	6	0	15	−15	0
8	A	Malaysia	6	0	0	6	1	29	−28	0

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.^[4][30]

A total of eight slots for the third round were available from this round (five from round 1, three from round 2).^[30] The three teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.^[12]

The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 April 2016, 15:00MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[31]

The lowest seeded team, Bhutan, received a bye, and the remaining ten teams were drawn into five pairs. Each pair played two home-and-away matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.^[30]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Chinese Taipei	2–4	Cambodia	2–2	0–2
Maldives	0–4	Yemen	0–2	0–2
Tajikistan	6–0	Bangladesh	5–0	1–0
Malaysia	6–0	Timor-Leste	3–0 (Forfeited)[16]	3–0 (Forfeited)[16]
Laos	1–7	India	0–1	1–6

Note: Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Malaysia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.^[16] Both matches originally ended as 3–0 wins to Malaysia.

The five losers from round 1 joined Bhutan in this round. The six teams were drawn into three pairs. Each pair played two home-and-away matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.^[30]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Maldives	5–1	Laos	4–0	1–1
Bangladesh	1–3	Bhutan	0–0	1–3
Timor-Leste	2–4	Chinese Taipei	1–2	1–2

A total of 24 teams competed in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Since the 2019 hostsUnited Arab Emirates advanced to thethird round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts was no longer necessary, and a total of 12 slots for the AFC Asian Cup were available from this round.

Due to the withdrawal ofGuam and the suspension ofKuwait, the AFC decided to invite bothNepal andMacau, the top two teams of the2016 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.^[32]

The draw for the third round was held on 23 January 2017, 16:00GST, inAbu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates.^[32] The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four.^[33]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	India	6	4	1	1	11	5	+6	13[a]	2019 AFC Asian Cup		—	1–0	2–2	4–1
2	Kyrgyzstan	6	4	1	1	14	8	+6	13[a]			2–1	—	5–1	1–0
3	Myanmar	6	2	2	2	10	10	0	8			0–1	2–2	—	1–0
4	Macau	6	0	0	6	4	16	−12	0			0–2	3–4	0–4	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Lebanon	6	5	1	0	14	4	+10	16	2019 AFC Asian Cup		—	5–0	2–0	2–1
2	North Korea	6	3	2	1	13	10	+3	11			2–2	—	2–0	4–1
3	Hong Kong	6	1	2	3	4	7	−3	5			0–1	1–1	—	2–0
4	Malaysia	6	0	1	5	5	15	−10	1			1–2	1–4	1–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan	6	3	3	0	16	5	+11	12	2019 AFC Asian Cup		—	1–1	4–1	7–0
2	Vietnam	6	2	4	0	9	3	+6	10			0–0	—	0–0	5–0
3	Afghanistan	6	1	3	2	7	10	−3	6			3–3	1–1	—	2–1
4	Cambodia	6	1	0	5	3	17	−14	3			0–1	1–2	1–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oman	6	5	0	1	28	5	+23	15[a]	2019 AFC Asian Cup		—	1–0	5–0	14–0
2	Palestine	6	5	0	1	25	3	+22	15[a]			2–1	—	8–1	10–0
3	Maldives	6	2	0	4	11	19	−8	6			1–3	0–3	—	7–0
4	Bhutan	6	0	0	6	2	39	−37	0			2–4	0–2	0–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bahrain	6	4	1	1	15	3	+12	13	2019 AFC Asian Cup		—	4–0	5–0	0–0
2	Turkmenistan	6	3	1	2	9	10	−1	10			1–2	—	2–1	2–1
3	Chinese Taipei	6	3	0	3	7	12	−5	9			2–1	1–3	—	1–0
4	Singapore	6	0	2	4	3	9	−6	2			0–3	1–1	1–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Philippines	6	3	3	0	13	8	+5	12	2019 AFC Asian Cup		—	2–2	2–1	4–1
2	Yemen	6	2	4	0	7	5	+2	10			1–1	—	2–1	2–1
3	Tajikistan	6	2	1	3	10	9	+1	7			3–4	0–0	—	3–0
4	Nepal	6	0	2	4	3	11	−8	2			0–0	0–0	1–2	—

The following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previousappearances inAFC Asian Cup1
United Arab Emirates	Hosts	9 March 2015	9 (1980,1984,1988,1992,1996,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Saudi Arabia	Second round group A winners	24 March 2016	9 (1984,1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Australia	Second round group B winners	29 March 2016	3 (2007,2011,2015)
Qatar	Second round group C winners	17 November 2015	9 (1980,1984,1988,1992,2000,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Iran	Second round group D winners	29 March 2016	13 (1968,1972,1976,1980,1984,1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Japan	Second round group E winners	24 March 2016	8 (1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Thailand	Second round group F winners	24 March 2016	6 (1972,1992,1996,2000,2004,2007)
South Korea	Second round group G winners	13 January 2016	13 (1956,1960,1964,1972,1980,1984,1988,1996,2000,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Uzbekistan	Second round group H winners	29 March 2016	6 (1996,2000,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Iraq	Second round 1st best runners-up	29 March 2016	8 (1972,1976,1996,2000,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Syria	Second round 2nd best runners-up	29 March 2016	5 (1980,1984,1988,1996,2011)
China	Second round 4th best runners-up	29 March 2016	11 (1976,1980,1984,1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2007,2011,2015)
India	Third Round Group A winners	11 October 2017	3 (1964,1984,2011)
Kyrgyzstan	Third Round Group A runners-up	22 March 2018	0 (debut)
Lebanon	Third Round Group B winners	10 November 2017	1 (2000)
North Korea	Third Round Group B runners-up	27 March 2018	4 (1980,1992,2011,2015)
Jordan	Third Round Group C winners	14 November 2017	3 (2004,2011,2015)
Vietnam	Third Round Group C runners-up	14 November 2017	3 (19562,19602,2007)
Palestine	Third Round Group D runners-up	10 October 2017	1 (2015)
Oman	Third Round Group D winners	10 October 2017	3 (2004,2007,2015)
Bahrain	Third Round Group E winners	14 November 2017	5 (1988,2004,2007,2011,2015)
Turkmenistan	Third Round Group E runners-up	14 November 2017	1 (2004)
Philippines	Third Round Group F winners	27 March 2018	0 (debut)
Yemen	Third Round Group F runners-up	27 March 2018	0 (debut)

Notes:

¹Bold indicates champion for that year.Italic indicates host for that year.

² AsSouth Vietnam

14 goals

11 goals

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source:the-afc.com

• 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)