After the round of 36 of the Asian qualifiers for the US-Canada-Mexico World Cup, a total of 18 teams advanced to the third stage, which will be held from September 2024 to June 2025.
Let's first understand the rules of the round of 18 draw:
1. The 18 teams are divided into three brackets according to the world ranking;
2. The 18 teams are divided into 3 groups, with 6 teams in each group;
3. Each group of 6 teams will play a double round-robin home and away match;
4. The top two teams in each group will directly qualify for the World Cup finals;
5. The third and fourth places in each group will enter the fourth stage of the competition to determine the final 2.5 places in the World Cup finals.
The 18 teams are divided as follows:
The Chinese team is currently ranked 88th in the world, ranking fifth with Palestine and Kyrgyzstan.
Tier 1: Japan, Iran, South Korea;
Tier 2: Australia, Qatar, Iraq;
Tier 3: Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Jordan;
Pot 4: United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain;
Tier 5: China, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan;
Tier 6: North Korea, Indonesia, Kuwait.
The results of the draw for the top 18 groups are as follows:
The top two teams in this group will qualify directly for the World Cup finals.
Group A: Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea;
Group B: Republic of Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Kuwait;
Group C: Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China, Indonesia.
The round of 18 consists of 10 rounds. The specific schedule is as follows:
September 5, 2024 Japan VS China;
September 10, 2024 China VS Saudi Arabia;
October 10, 2024 Australia VS China;
October 15, 2024 China VS Indonesia;
November 14, 2024 Bahrain VS China;
November 19, 2024 China VS Japan;
March 20, 2025 Saudi Arabia VS China;
March 25, 2025 China VS Australia;
June 5, 2025 Indonesia VS China;
June 10, 2025 China VS Bahrain.