It is reported that the draw feast for the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers will be unveiled on the 27th of this month, while the event will also be held in parallel as the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
Looking back at the FIFA rankings as of July 20, our soccer team is firmly in 11th place in Asia. Despite Uzbekistan and Omanistan's impressive performances in June, the huge gap between the two makes it highly unlikely that they will overtake them. Therefore, it is highly likely that our soccer team will be placed in the second team's group in the draw on the 27th.
The AFC's tournament schedule shows that the first and second phases of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Asia will be combined with the first and second phases of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. This means that the two tournaments will share the same schedule.
In the first stage, the top 25 teams from the 47 member associations of the AFC will advance directly to the second stage based on the FIFA rankings, while the bottom 22 teams will play a knockout round. The tournament will be played on a home-and-away basis, with the winning 11 teams advancing to the second stage. The matches are scheduled to be played on the 12th and 17th of October this year.
In the second stage, known as the "36-team tournament", the 11 teams that won the first stage are joined by the 25 teams that advanced directly to the 36-team tournament. These 36 teams will be divided into 9 groups of 4 teams each, using a double round-robin system of home and away matches. The two teams with the highest points from each group will advance to the final 18, which will also compete for the 2027 Asian Cup final. The battle will last from November this year to June next year.
