Head coach Philippe Troussier attended the draw for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers
Tomorrow (July 27), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will conduct the group draw for the first and second qualifying round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Asia and also the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers. Head coach Philippe Troussier will represent the Vietnam team to attend this remarkable event.
27/07/2023 05:51:31
At the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has increased the number of teams participating to 48 teams, of which Asia has 8.5 slots. Therefore, AFC has also made some changes to the qualifying format.
Accordingly, the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Asia will include 4 rounds, of which the first 2 rounds are also the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers.
Round 1 includes 18 teams with the lowest rankings out of 45 Asian teams based on FIFA rankings in July 2023. 18 teams are divided into 9 pairs, playing one home and one away match on 12 and 17 October 2023 respectively. The 9 winners in round 1 will advance to round 2.
Round 2 includes 36 teams, including the top 27 Asian teams according to FIFA rankings in July 2023 and 9 winners in round 1. The Vietnam team is ranked 15 in Asia, so will start participating from the this round.
36 teams are divided into 9 groups of 4 teams each, playing in a home – away format from November 2023 to June 2024 to calculate ranking points. The first and second ranked teams in each group will advance to the third round (18 teams in total), and directly qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup. The remaining 18 teams will go directly to the third qualifying round (qualification round) of the 2027 Asian Cup.
The draw for the third round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia will be conducted in 2024. The 18 winning teams in the second round will be divided into 3 groups of 6 teams each playing two-leg round at home and away. The top two teams in each group qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the third and fourth placed teams (6 teams in total) qualify for Round 4, also known as the Asian Play-off Round.
6 teams in the Asian play-off round are divided into 2 groups, 3 teams each, will compete in a round-robin format at the gathering place. The two first-placed teams will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while the second-placed teams from both groups will compete in the knockout stages in a home and away format to determine which team will play in the inter-confederation play-offs.
