The fourth round of
AFC matches for the
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada men's national soccer team, Canada, Mexico national football team, Mexico, and the United States men's national soccer team, United States at the 2026 FIFA ...
will be played in October 2025.
Format
The third-place and fourth-place teams from the
third round
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system
Places
* 3rd Street (di ...
will be divided into two groups of three teams. Each group will play a
round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...
at a centralized venue. The winners of each group will qualify directly for the
2026 FIFA World Cup
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...
, while the runners-up will advance to the
fifth round
Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five.
Fifth or The Fifth may refer to:
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth"
* Fifth Avenue
* Fifth column, a political term
* Fifth disease, a cont ...
.
On 13 June 2025, AFC confirmed
Qatar
Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
and
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
as the host countries. The hosts were selected following a bidding process involving prospective teams during the third round. The decision to hold the centralised playoff format in Qatar and Saudi Arabia was met with criticism from Indonesia, Iraq, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates over concerns of competitive advantage.
Qualified teams
The following teams finished third or fourth in their respective third round groups:
Draw
The fourth round draw took place on 17 July 2025 at the AFC House in
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
, Malaysia.
The seeding for the draw was based on a
special release of the
FIFA Men's World Rankings
The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...
for Asian teams on 13 June 2025 (shown in parentheses below).
Schedule
The competition schedule is expected to be as follows:
Group A
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Group B
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References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2026 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Fourth Round
4
FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Round 4