Van Tung
As the Asian region's quota for the 2026 World Cup finals has been increased from 4.5 to 8.5, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Competition Committee recently held an online meeting to propose adjustments to the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. Indonesia's Superball online newspaper immediately commented that the "door" to the 2026 World Cup for the Indonesian national team will be very narrow.
Indonesian media is concerned that the Indonesian national team will face difficulties in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. Photo: Bolasport
The AFC has proposed a plan to organize the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in Asia in 4 stages. Round 1 will include teams ranked from 26 to 47 on the FIFA Rankings in Asia. A total of 22 teams will be drawn into 11 pairs, competing in a knockout match to determine the 11 teams that will advance to Round 2.
Round 2 has a total of 36 teams, including 25 teams ranked from 1 to 25 on the FIFA Asia Rankings, along with 11 teams that have just passed round 1. These 36 teams will be divided into 9 groups (each group has 4 teams), playing a round-robin (home and away). The top 2 teams in each group (18 teams in total) will advance to round 3.
The 18 teams participating in round 3 will be divided into 3 groups. Each group has 6 teams and will compete in a home-away round-robin format. The top 6 teams from the 3 groups will win 6 direct tickets to the 2026 World Cup. The 6 teams in 3rd and 4th place in the 3 groups will continue to compete in round 4, which is also the Asian play-off round.
These 6 teams will be divided into 2 groups of 3 teams each. The 2 group winners will win 2 tickets to the 2026 World Cup. The 2 runners-up will compete in the regional play-off to win the right to compete in the intercontinental play-off.
With this new format, Superball believes that the Indonesian national team will face many difficulties because the "Garuda Eagles" are ranked 28th in the FIFA Asia Rankings. Therefore, coach Shin Tae-yong's team will have to compete from the first round.
The situation of the Indonesian national team is not better than other opponents in the Southeast Asian region, such as Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. The Vietnamese national team is still the top team in Southeast Asia, ranked 16th in the FIFA Asia Rankings, followed by Thailand at 21st. The Malaysian national team may also not have to play the first round like Vietnam and Thailand, if they maintain their position in the top 25 in Asia.
The 2026 World Cup Asian qualifiers are scheduled to begin on October 12, 2023. The AFC Competitions Committee’s proposals will be sent to member associations for their comments. Based on the comments from member associations, the AFC Competitions Committee will make a decision at the next meeting in July, and then submit it to the AFC Executive Committee for approval.
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