Updated date: 07/27/2023 05:44:31
At the same time as the 2023 Women's World Cup is taking place in Australia and New Zealand, the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup will also kick off on July 27 with the draw and match schedule. Coach Troussier will represent the Vietnamese team at this highly anticipated event.
World Cup 2026 is the top priority for coach Troussier when accompanying Vietnamese football
Since the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has increased the number of teams participating in the finals 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 Asian Qualifiers will have 4 rounds, of which the first 2 rounds are also the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers.
Round 1 includes the 18 lowest-ranked teams out of 45 teams in Asia based on the FIFA rankings in July 2023. The 18 teams are divided into 9 pairs, playing one home match and one away match on October 12 and 17, 2023, respectively. The 9 winning teams in Round 1 will advance to Round 2.
Round 2 includes 36 teams, including the top 27 teams in Asia according to the FIFA rankings in July 2023 and 9 winning teams in round 1. The Vietnamese team is ranked 15th in Asia so it will start participating from this round.
Vietnam team enters round 2
The 36 teams are divided into 9 groups of 4 teams each, playing a double round-robin (home and away) from November 2023 to June 2024 to calculate ranking points. The first and second-placed teams in each group will qualify for the third round (a total of 18 teams), and also directly qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup Finals. The remaining 18 teams will go straight to the third qualifying round (the final qualifying round) of the 2027 Asian Cup.
The draw for the third round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia will be held in 2024. The 18 winners of the second round will be divided into three groups of six teams each, playing home and away in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while the third and fourth-placed teams (a total of six teams) will advance to the fourth round, also known as the Asian play-offs.
The six teams in the Asian play-off round are divided into two groups of three teams each, and will play in a round-robin format at the venue. The top two teams will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while the second-placed teams in both groups will play a home-and-away knockout match to determine who will advance to the intercontinental play-off.
According to CAO TUONG (SGGP)
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