2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

July 2026 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) 8 October 2007 – 14 November 2009 43 1 {{#expr: 2500 + 8000 + 7000 + 800 + 11254 + 500 + 6500 + 3000 + 21000 + 200 + 18000 + 12000 + 20000 + 12000 + 4000 + 2000 + 1500 + 1542 + 3000 + 2000 + 3000 + 8900 + 700 + 10000 + 4870 + 5000 + 15000 + 10000 + 75 + 500 + 10000 + 3000 + 5000 + 2823 + 30000 + 35000 + 5000 + 6606 + 21500 + 12000 + 29000 + 50969 + 11000 + 32000 + 13000 + 48678 + 9000 + 50000 + 8000 + 39000 + 12000 + 70054 + 10000 + 35130 + 28000 + 40000 + 26000 + 46764 + 15000 + 6500 + 21000 + 25000 + 25000 + 51180 + 3000 + 25738 + 16000 + 20000 + 20000 + 50000 + 20000 + 25000 + 8000 + 25000 + 11000 + 48519 + 150 + 800 + 10000 + 17000 + 10118 + 28750 + 8000 + 12867 + 2000 + 23000 + 7000 + 500 + 5000 + 45000 + 19000 + 35000 + 15000 + 50000 + 25000 + 9000 + 10000 + 25000 + 20000 + 20000 + 7000 + 20000 + 8000 + 34000 + 7000 + 34320 + 55142 + 10000 + 13000 + 66000 + 30000 + 57276 + 18000 + 57292 + 20000 + 34000 + 7000 + 39540 + 60256 + 74100 + 14100 + 10000 + 50000 + 3000 + 15000 + 30000 + 60000 + 8000 + 60000 + 48000 + 75000 + 50000 + 100000 + 48000 + 70000 + 30000 + 4000 + 32510 + 38000 + 40000 + 65000 + 16000 + 50000 | top_scorer = THA Sarayoot ChaikamdeeUZB Maksim Shatskikh(8 goals each) | prevseason = 2006 | nextseason = 2014 }} thumb|Iran vs South Korea at Azadi Stadium, Tehran The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) section of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification was allocated four assured qualifying berths for the final tournament in South Africa and one place in a play-off. 43 teams were in the running for these spots, while Laos, Brunei and the Philippines did not enter qualification. This was the first time Timor-Leste competed in World Cup qualification and the first time Australia attempted to qualify for the World Cup as a member of the AFC, having moved from the Oceania Football Confederation at the start of 2006. Note that this edition saw the first effective participation of Myanmar. The country, called "Burma" until 1989, was registered three times (1950, 1994, 2002) but withdrew each time before playing. Asia's four automatic qualifying berths were taken by Australia, Japan and both North and South Korea. Bahrain failed to become a fifth Asian representative in the World Cup after losing the play-off match against Oceanian representatives New Zealand. Seeding The initial seeding (used in the draw for the first two rounds) was based on each team's performance during the qualification stage for the previous World Cup.2010 FIFA World Cup: AFC announces seedings, qualification process The admission of Australia to the AFC complicated matters slightly (as they had not taken part in the previous AFC qualification cycle, but had progressed to the World Cup finals in Germany – and had advanced further than the AFC qualifiers). Initially, the AFC placed Australia as the first seed even though this contradicted the letter of the seeding – past practice (such as adopted by the AFC in the draw for the qualification to the 2008 Olympic Football Tournament) would have seeded Australia last. By the time of the main qualification draw in Durban (which included the AFC third round), the seeding had been adjusted to rank the top 5 AFC nations according to their performance in the World Cup Final Tournament (of 2006). This resulted in minor changes to the seeding at that point. Seeding for the first two rounds Teams ranked 1–5 received a bye from the first two knockout rounds and are entered into the third round. Teams ranked 6–43 entered at the first round, with teams ranked from 6–24 drawn against teams ranked from 25 to 43. Of the first round winners, the eight lowest remaining seeds would go on to play in the second round. The other teams would receive a bye to the third round.Asian Zone Competition Format Top Seeds (Ranked 1st to 5th)Pot A (Ranked 6th to 24th)Pot B (Ranked 25th to 43rd)1 AUS KOR 1997 KSA JPN IRN 6 BHR UZB KUW PRK CHN JOR IRQ 2004 LIB OMA UAE QAT SYR 1980 PLE THA TKM TJK IDN HKG YEM 25 VIE KGZ 1992 MDV IND SIN SRI MAS TPE BAN MAC PAK AFG 2004 MGL 1992 GUM NEP CAM BHU MYA 1974 TLS Guam and Bhutan withdrew after the draw, but before playing any matches. First round 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round The official draw took place on 6 August 2007 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Teams from Pot A were randomly paired with a team from Pot B. PAK 0–7 IRQ 2004 0–7 0–0first1 1 UZB 11–0 TPE 9–0 2–0 THA 13–2 MAC 6–1 7–1 SRI 0–6 QAT 0–1 0–5 CHN 11–0 MYA 1974 7–0 4–0first4 4 BHU w/ofirst2 2 KUW KGZ 1992 2–2(5–6 pens) JOR 2–0 0–2 (aet) VIE 0–6 UAE 0–1 0–5 BHR 4–1 MAS 4–1 0–0 TLS 3–11 HKG 2–3first5 5 1–8 SYR 1980 5–1 AFG 2004 3–0 2–1first1 1 noid YEM 3–2 MDV 3–0 0–2 BAN 1–6 TJK 1–1 0–5 MGL 1992 2–9 PRK 1–4 1–5 OMA 4–0 NEP 2–0 2–0 PLE 0–7 SIN 0–4first1 1 noid 0–3first6 6 LIB 6–3 IND 4–1 2–2 CAM 1–5 TKM 0–1 1–4 GUM w/ofirst3 3 IDN |} first1 For security reasons, Iraq played their home leg in Syria, Palestine played their home leg in Qatar and Afghanistan played their home leg in Tajikistan.https://int.soccerway.com/news/2007/August/6/no-home-play-for-iraq-in-world-cup-qualifiers No home play for Iraq in World Cup qualifiers Soccerway 6 August 2007 21 June 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090624041052/http://www.soccerway.com/news/2007/August/6/no-home-play-for-iraq-in-world-cup-qualifiers 24 June 2009 live first2 Bhutan withdrew.https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=595607.html#bhutan+2010+race Bhutan out of 2010 race FIFA Zurich, Switzerland 13 September 2007 21 June 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20070915203729/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid%3D595607.html 15 September 2007 dead first3 Guam withdrew.http://www.pssi-football.com/id/view_news_111082.php?id=1061 Indonesia goes straight through – Guam declines id Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia 21 June 2009 7 August 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20100104082529/http://pssi-football.com/id/view_news_111082.php?id=1061 4 January 2010 first4 FIFA decided to move Myanmar home match to Malaysia.https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=619505.html#myanmar+china+switched+malaysia Myanmar-China switched to Malaysia FIFA Zurich, Switzerland 21 June 2009 18 October 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20100815220411/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid%3D619505/index.html 15 August 2010 dead first5 Timor-Leste elected to play their home leg in Indonesia. first6 Palestine failed to appear; Singapore was awarded a 3–0 win. The Palestine Football Federation appealed to have the match rescheduled on the grounds that its players did not receive permits to leave the Gaza Strip, but FIFA dismissed the appeal.http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/703267B5-96C2-4A35-A960-412093559409.htm Fifa reject Palestinian appeal Al Jazeera Sports 31 October 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20080618222518/http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/703267B5-96C2-4A35-A960-412093559409.htm 18 June 2008 Second round 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round Of the nineteen teams that progressed from the first round, the eight lowest seeded teams by FIFA rankings were required to play in the second round (the other eleven teams received a bye to the third round). As with the first round the draw took place on 6 August 2007 at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As the teams involved were not known at the time, the draw placed teams ranked 16–19 against teams ranked 12–15. The ties drawn were 17th against 14th 16th against 12th 18th against 13th 19th against 15th Third round 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round The top 5 seeds were joined by the eleven highest-ranked winners from the first round and the four second round winners. Qualified teams Byes to Round 3Top 11 Round 1 winnersRound 2 winnersAUS KOR 1997 KSA JPN IRNBHR UZB KUW1 PRK CHN JOR IRQ 2004 LIB OMA UAE QATSYR 1980 THA TKM SIN 1 On 30 October 2007, the Kuwait Football Association was suspended from international football competitions by FIFA. On 9 November 2007, Kuwait was conditionally reinstated to international football competitions by FIFA.FIFA Reinstate Kuwait to Competition https://web.archive.org/web/20110525155024/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=480596&cc=5901 25 May 2011 , retrieved 9 November 2007 Seeding These 20 teams were drawn into five groups of four teams at the main group draw in Durban, South Africa on 25 November 2007. The seeding for the main draw was the same for the first two rounds, with the exception that the five seeded nations (those that qualified for the 2006 finals) were ordered on the basis of results in the 2006 finals tournament.Preliminary Draw Information Final Zones Ranking and Pot Allocations, FIFA retrieved 25 November 2007 This saw Iran move from fifth to third, and Japan and Saudi Arabia ranked equal fourth. The four seeding Pots used were: Pot APot BPot CPot DAUS KOR 1997 IRN JPN KSABHR UZB KUW PRK CHNJOR IRQ 2004 LIB OMA UAEQAT SYR 1980 THA TKM SIN Groups The teams in each group played each other twice, once home and once away. The teams that finished first and second in their group qualified for the fourth round. Group 1 Group 1 On 26 May 2008, FIFA decided to suspend Iraq from all international competitions after the Iraq Football Association was disbanded by the government on 20 May 2008.https://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-fifairaq_urgent&prov=reuters&type=lgns FIFA suspends Iraq from international competition 26 May 2008 26 May 2008 Yahoo! Sports The suspension was provisionally and conditionally lifted on 29 May 2008.https://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/releases/newsid=781993.html?cid=rssfeed&att= Suspension of Iraqi Football Association provisionally and conditionally lifted 29 May 2008 29 May 2008 FIFA https://web.archive.org/web/20080607000427/http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/releases/newsid%3D781993.html?cid=rssfeed&att= 7 June 2008 dead Qatar fielded ineligible player Emerson in the 2–0 defeat to Iraq on 26 March 2008, prompting FIFA to controversiallyhttp://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=574715&sec=worldcup2010&cc=5739 FIFA unable to shake off Qatar controversy 22 September 2008 8 August 2011 ESPN SoccerNet 26 October 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121026133013/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=574715&sec=worldcup2010&cc=5739 dead suspend him but clear Qatar of any wrongdoing, in direct contradiction to its decisions against Singapore. Iraq appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but it was rejected by the CAS, saying that Iraq submitted documents and appeal fees too late.https://www.espn.com/espn/wire?section=soccer&id=3615906 Iraq loses last appeal to get back into World Cup 29 September 2008 8 August 2011 ESPN SoccerNet Group 2 Group 2 Group 3 Group 3 Group 4 Group 4 Group 5 Group 5 Fourth round 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC fourth round In the fourth round, the 10 remaining teams were drawn into 2 groups of 5 teams. Qualified teams Round 3Group winnersGroup runners-upGroup 1 AUS QATGroup 2 JPN BHRGroup 3 KOR 1997 PRKGroup 4 KSA* UZB*Group 5 IRN UAE * Positions based on original final standings Seeding The 10 qualifiers were drawn into two groups of five teams at the draw in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 27 June 2008. The seeding for the fourth round was based on that used in the third round draw, but Saudi Arabia and Japan (seeded equal 4th in that draw) were separated by a random selection held at the start of the fourth round draw.http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_167182448.html FWCQ Stage 4 draw mechanics 12 June 2008 The-AFC.com 13 June 2008 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080614233054/http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_167182448.html 14 June 2008 The top 6 ranked qualifiers were split into 3 pots of 2 teams, with the bottom 4 ranked nations grouped together in a separate pot. Each group was allocated 1 team from each of Pots 1, 2 and 3, and 2 teams from Pot 4. Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4AUS KOR 1997IRN JPNKSA BHRUZB PRK UAE QAT Groups The teams in each group played each other twice, once home and once away. The top 2 teams in each group qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals in South Africa. The third-placed teams met in a play-off to determine who would play the OFC winner, New Zealand, in a separate playoff for a spot in the Finals. Group A Group A Group B Group B Fifth round 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC fifth round Teams finishing 3rd in the fourth round groups played each other to determine a possible 5th qualifier from Asia. The draw for the order in which the two matches would be played was held on 2 June 2009 during the FIFA Congress in Nassau, the Bahamas.Intercontinental play-off dates confirmed https://web.archive.org/web/20090614120346/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/media/newsid%3D1065516.html 14 June 2009 BHR 2–2 (a) KSA 0–0 2–2 |} Bahrain advanced to the Asia-Oceania play-off on the away goals rule. Inter-confederation play-offs 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC–OFC play-off) The Fifth Round winner then played the winner of the OFC qualifying group, New Zealand, in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. The draw for the order in which the two matches would be played was held on 2 June 2009 during the FIFA Congress in Nassau, the Bahamas. playoff1 Qualified teams The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament. Team Qualified as Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA World Cup AUS A1 Fourth round group A winners 6 June 2009 2 (1974, 2006) KOR 1997 B1 Fourth round group B winners 6 June 2009 1 7 (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006) JPN A2 Fourth round group A runners-up 6 June 2009 3 (1998, 2002, 2006) PRK B2 Fourth round group B runners-up 17 June 2009 1 (1966) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year. Top goalscorers 374 143 THA Sarayoot Chaikamdee UZB Maksim Shatskikh KUW Ahmad Ajab UAE Ismail Matar LIB Mohammed Ghaddar QAT Sebastián Soria KOR 1997 Park Ji-Sung SYR 1980 Zyad Chaabo AUS Tim Cahill AUS Brett Emerton HKG Cheng Siu Wai IRN Javad Nekounam IRQ Mahdi Karim JOR Hassan Abdel Fattah PRK Hong Yong-Jo PRK Jong Chol-Min KSA Abdoh Otaif SIN Aleksandar Đurić KOR 1997 Park Chu-Young SYR 1980 Jehad Al-Hussain SYR 1980 Raja Rafe TJK Numondzhon Khakimov UZB Server Djeparov Below are full goalscorer lists for each round: 22em First round Second round Third round Fourth round Fifth round References External links AFC Qualification 2010 Official Website Asian zone at FIFA.com AFC 2010 Category:2007 in Asian men's international football Category:2008 in Asian men's international football Category:2009 in Asian men's international football