2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – Third Round

2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – Third Round
Tournament details
Dates	8 – 14 June 2022
Teams	24 (from 1 confederation)
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The third round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification will be played from 8 to 14 June 2022 in six centralised venues. It was originally scheduled for 30 March 2021 to 29 March 2022, but the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) changed the dates on multiple occasions due to postponements of matches in the second round, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.

Format[]

A total of 24 teams (22 teams which advanced from the second round and two teams which will advance from the play-off round) will compete in the third round to compete for the final 11 slots in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.^[1] Since the 2023 hosts China advanced to the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts was no longer necessary.

The 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four teams to play single round-robin matches in six centralised venues. The group winners and the best five runners-up across all groups will qualify for the Asian Cup, where they are joined by China and by the 12 teams which qualified directly from the second round.^[1]

Qualification[]

Teams qualified
Group	Runners-up (Bottom 3)^{[nb 1]}	Third place	Fourth place	Fifth place (Best 3)	Play-off Round
A	—	Philippines	Maldives	—	—
B	Kuwait	Jordan	Nepal	—	—
C	—	Bahrain	Hong Kong	—	Cambodia
D	Uzbekistan	Palestine	Singapore	Yemen	—
E	—	India	Afghanistan^{[nb 2]}	Bangladesh	—
F	Tajikistan	Kyrgyzstan	Mongolia	Myanmar	—
G	—	Malaysia	Thailand	—	Indonesia
H	—	Turkmenistan	Sri Lanka	—	—

Notes

^ Because Qatar qualified to the Asian Cup as second round group winner, the fifth runner-up also qualified to the third round of AFC qualification for the World Cup, while the three worst runners-up will compete in the third round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification.
^ In August 2021, Afghanistan's participation status became unclear since Afghanistan was brought under the control of the Taliban.^[2]

Schedule[]

On 20 October 2021, the AFC announced that this round would be played in centralised venues and the three match days would be held on 8, 11 and 14 June 2022.^[3] There will be a bidding process for the hosts of the 6 centralised groups. The draw itself will be held in February 2022, and seeding will be based on the FIFA World Rankings at the time of the draw.

Matchday	Date	Original date	Matches
Matchday 1	8 June 2022	24 March 2021	2 vs 3, 1 vs 4
Matchday 2	11 June 2022	8 June 2021	3 vs 1, 4 vs 2
Matchday 3	14 June 2022	7 September 2021	3 vs 4, 1 vs 2

Groups[]

The winner of each group (qualify directly for the final tournament).

The runner-up of each group (may qualify for the final tournament if they are among the five best runners-up).^{[note 1]}

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order (Regulations Article 7.3):^[1]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying criteria 1 to 4, a subset of teams is still tied, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
Drawing of lots.