The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification was the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the international men's football championship of Asia. For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015.[1]
The qualification process involved four rounds, where the first two doubled as the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams.
First round: A total of twelve teams (teams ranked 35–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
Second round: A total of forty teams (teams ranked 1–34 and six first round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches.
The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up including host UAE qualified for the AFC Asian Cup finals and advance to the third round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The next sixteen highest ranked teams (the remaining four group runners-up, the eight third-placed teams and the four best group fourth-placed teams) advanced directly to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
The remaining twelve teams entered the play-off round to contest the remaining eight spots in the third round of Asian Cup qualification.[3]
Play-off round: At a Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that a play-off round of qualifying would be introduced into the qualification procedure.[4] There were two rounds of home-and-away two-legged play-off matches to determine the final eight qualifiers for the third round.
Third round: The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches, and they competed for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
The play-off round represented a change from the initially announced qualification format – which saw the remaining fourth-placed teams and the four best group fifth-placed teams also advance to the third round.[1]
Entrants
46 FIFA-affiliated nations from the AFC entered qualification.[5] In order to determine which nations would compete in the first round and which nations would receive a bye through to the second round, the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015 were used (shown in parentheses).[6]
Due to the joint format of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, the hosts of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the United Arab Emirates also entered the second round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers despite having qualified automatically.
^ abcOn 12 December 2017, Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Mongolia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.
^ abcdefOn 12 December 2017, AFC decided to forfeit the first five matches involving Timor-Leste – both v Malaysia, home v United Arab Emirates, away v Saudi Arbia, and home v Palestine due to the use of falsified documents for their players of Timor-Leste.[16]
^United Arab Emirates already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation.
^Match abandoned after 87 minutes due to a group of supporters throwing flares at the pitch. A month later, FIFA awarded Saudi Arabia 3–0 win.[17][18]
Indonesia was also drawn into this group, but on 30 May 2015 the country's football association was suspended due to governmental interference,[21] and on 3 June 2015 the team was disqualified and all matches involving it were cancelled.[22]
^Indonesia was also drawn into this group, but on 30 May 2015 the country's football association was suspended due to governmental interference,[23] and on 3 June 2015 the team was disqualified and all matches involving it were cancelled.[24]
^ abcdDuring this stage the Kuwait Football Association was suspended after the country had failed to comply with a decision from FIFA that its sports law had to be changed. The three remaining matches involving Kuwait – away v Myanmar, home v Laos, and away v South Korea – were not played as scheduled, and were eventually awarded as 3–0 wins for Kuwait's opponents.[25][26][27] Kuwait was also unable to compete in the Third round of the Asian Cup qualifying, to which it would have advanced based on its ranking.
^FIFA awarded North Korea a 3–0 win as a result of Yemen fielding the ineligible player Mudir Al-Radaei, after North Korea had defeated Yemen 1–0. Al-Radaei failed to serve an automatic one match suspension for receiving two yellow cards earlier in the First round of the competition.[28]
Ranking of runner-up teams
To determine the four best runner-up teams, the following criteria are used:
Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.[29]
Source: FIFA Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fourth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Fair play points; 5) Drawing of lots. Notes:
^United Arab Emirates already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation.
Ranking of fourth-placed teams
To determine the four best fourth-placed teams, the following criteria were used:
Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team are not counted when determining the ranking of the fourth-placed teams.[29]
Source: FIFA Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fourth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Fair play points; 5) Drawing of lots.
At an AFC Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that two rounds of play-off matches would be introduced into the qualification procedure to determine the final eight teams for the main qualifying round.[4][30]
A total of eight slots for the third round were available from this round (five from round 1, three from round 2).[30] The three teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.[12]
The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 April 2016, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[31]
Round 1
The lowest seeded team, Bhutan, received a bye, and the remaining ten teams were drawn into five pairs. Each pair played two home-and-away matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.[30]
Note: Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Malaysia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.[16] Both matches originally ended as 3–0 wins to Malaysia.
Round 2
The five losers from round 1 joined Bhutan in this round. The six teams were drawn into three pairs. Each pair played two home-and-away matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.[30]
A total of 24 teams competed in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Since the 2019 hosts United Arab Emirates advanced to the third round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts was no longer necessary, and a total of 12 slots for the AFC Asian Cup were available from this round.
Due to the withdrawal of Guam and the suspension of Kuwait, the AFC decided to invite both Nepal and Macau, the top two teams of the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup, to re-enter 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification as replacements in order to maintain 24 teams in the third round of the competition.[32]
The draw for the third round was held on 23 January 2017, 16:00 GST, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[32] The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four.[33]
Groups
2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification tiebreakers
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 9.3):[34]
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 were tied, and after applying criteria 1 to 4, a subset of teams were still tied, criteria 1 to 4 were 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 were 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);
^Kuwait disqualified after playing five matches. Indonesia disqualified before playing. Guam withrew before playing third round. UAE participated to reach the World Cup.
^"World Cup draw looms large in Asia". FIFA.com. 13 April 2015. Archived from the original on April 16, 2015. Completing the tournament's qualifying contenders will be the next 16 highest ranked teams, with the remaining 12 sides battling it out in play-off matches to claim the last eight spots.
