June 30 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will hold a virtual draw for the final round of the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur.
The 12 remaining teams will be ceded into two groups of six with each team playing home and away. Matches will start in the next FIFA international window in September.
Group winners and runners-up will automatically qualify for Qatar 2022, while the third-placed teams will advance to the Asian playoff with the winner advancing to the intercontinental playoff.
Based on the special FIFA Ranking released for Asian teams on June 18, top seeds Japan and the Iran will take their places in Pot 1, with Pot 2 comprising Australia and Korea Republic while Pot 3 will include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Pot 4 will contain Iraq and China PR, followed by Oman and Syria in Pot 5 and debutants Vietnam and Lebanon completing the line-up in Pot 6.
There are 10 match days needed to complete qualifying and while the AFC has held most of its competitions in centralised venues so far this season, the final 2022 qualifying will see nations travel, though will clearly be covid restrictions for many of those countries with Australia likely to present their most issues.
Match days have been set for: September 2 and 7, October 7 and 12, and November 11 and 16, 2021, as well as January 27 and February 1, 2022, before reaching its climax on March 24 and 29, 2022.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1736540069labto1736540069ofdlr1736540069owedi1736540069sni@n1736540069osloh1736540069cin.l1736540069uap1736540069
