Vietnamese players in a match in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. (Photo: VFF) According to the announcement, the 2026 FIFA World Cupqualification tournament will comprise four rounds, in which 22 teams, ranked26 to 47, will be drawn to play in a home-and-away format in the PreliminaryJoint Qualification Round 1, where the 11 winners will progress to Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2.
In Round 2, 36 teams, ranked from 1 to 25, as well as the 11winners from the first round, will be divided into nine groups to compete in around-robin, home-and-away format, after which the top two teams from eachgroup – 18 in total – will advance to the AFC Asian Qualifiers for the WorldCup as well as the 2027 Asian Cup.
During the Asian Qualifiers, the 18 teams will be dividedinto three groups to compete in a round-robin, home-and-away format, with thetop two teams from each group qualifying directly to the 2026 World Cup.
The final round will consist of the third and fourth placedteams from all groups of the AFC Asian Qualifiers – six teams in total. The sixteams will be drawn into two groups of three teams each, competing in a singleround-robin format.
The two first-placed teams from the Asian Playoff groups willadvance to the FIFA World Cup 2026. The second-placed teams from both groupswill compete in a playoff match to determine the side that will represent theAFC in the Intercontinental Playoff./.
VNA
