The Asian Football Confederation has announced that its qualifying tournament for the 2018 Men’s World Cup will begin on THU 12 MAR 2015, with a preliminary round involving the twelve lowest ranked teams to enter. The draw for this round will be held on TUE 10 FEB 2015.

The AFC qualifying format is similar to that for previous Men’s World Cups, with a preliminary round followed by two group phases. In this case, the first group phase will include eight groups of five teams each, including the six preliminary round winners and the 34 teams granted a bye in that round. The eight group winners, plus the top four second placed teams, will advance to the second group phase. The draw for the first group phase will be held on SAT 11 APR 2015.

In the second group phase, the twelve surviving teams will be drawn into two groups. This round will decide qualification for Russia 2018, though the actual number of places to be allocated to the AFC is yet to be decided.

The first two rounds will also serve as qualifiers for the 2019 Men’s Asian Cup; the twelve teams that reach the second group phase will also qualify for the Asian Cup. For the teams eliminated in the first group phase, a separate tournament will decide the remaining places at the Asian Cup.

• Teams entering in preliminary round:
  • Pot 1: Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, India, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Yemen
  • Pot 2: Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Macao, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan
• Teams byed to first group phase: Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China PR, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea DPR, Korea Rep, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam