World Preliminaries | There are only half a seat left in Asia. How difficult is it to gather 9 Asian teams to participate in the World Cup?

Qilu Evening News·Qilu One Point Reporter Yin Chengjun

In the early morning of October 15, with the end of the World Cup Asian qualifying play-offs, all eight AFC teams that have qualified for next year's World Cup have been formed, leaving only half of the theoretical quota, which will be won by the winner between the UAE team and the Iraqi team.

After FIFA decided to expand the World Cup to 48 teams in 2026, the AFC was allocated 8.5 seats, 8 of which went directly to the World Cup. The last half of the seats required Asian teams to compete with teams from South America, Africa, Oceania, and Central and North America. In the early morning of October 15, as the Qatar team defeated the UAE team 2:1, all eight direct teams were formed, namely Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Japan, Australia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

This World Cup Asian qualifier has selected the most qualified teams to participate in next year's football feast. Among them, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Iraq are the first-class established teams. Although Jordan and Uzbekistan are new teams, they are also among the quasi-first-class in Asia. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have the right time and location, so it is reasonable to qualify. The two teams that still need to continue competing, the UAE team and the Iraqi team, represent the second-rate level in Asia.

However, it is very difficult for Asian teams to get the only half of the remaining spots. The UAE team and Qatar team will first play two rounds of home and away matches next month, and the quota for the intercontinental play-offs will be determined based on the results. Then in March next year, they will compete with five other teams from Africa, Oceania, South America and Central and North America and the Caribbean for the last two World Cup tickets.

Among them, two teams from Central and North America and the Caribbean participated, and only one team from other continents participated. Currently, the teams that have been confirmed to participate in this play-off include Bolivia in South America and New Caledonia in Oceania.

In the African region, established teams such as Cameroon and Nigeria have been reduced to competing for qualifications for the intercontinental play-offs. Only one team among them can become the "lucky one".

Looking at it this way, the hope of Asian teams qualifying for the intercontinental play-offs is very slim. Except for their chances of winning against Oceania teams, it is difficult for other teams to win, especially South American and African teams, which have almost no chance of winning.