2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification

2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates12 March 2015 – 27 March 2018
Teams46[note 1] (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played252
Goals scored820 (3.25 per match)
Attendance3,022,771 (11,995 per match)
Top scorer(s)Saudi Arabia Mohammad Al-Sahlawi (14 goals)
← 2015
2023 →
AFC Asian Qualifiers
FIFA World Cup
AFC Asian Cup

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification was the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the international men's football championship of Asia. For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015.[1]

The qualification process involved four rounds, where the first two doubled as the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams.

Format

[edit]

The qualification structure was as follows:[1][2]

  • First round: A total of twelve teams (teams ranked 35–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
  • Second round: A total of forty teams (teams ranked 1–34 and six first round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches.
    • The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up including host UAE qualified for the AFC Asian Cup finals and advance to the third round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
    • The next sixteen highest ranked teams (the remaining four group runners-up, the eight third-placed teams and the four best group fourth-placed teams) advanced directly to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
    • The remaining twelve teams entered the play-off round to contest the remaining eight spots in the third round of Asian Cup qualification.[3]
  • Play-off round: At a Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that a play-off round of qualifying would be introduced into the qualification procedure.[4] There were two rounds of home-and-away two-legged play-off matches to determine the final eight qualifiers for the third round.
  • Third round: The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches, and they competed for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

The play-off round represented a change from the initially announced qualification format – which saw the remaining fourth-placed teams and the four best group fifth-placed teams also advance to the third round.[1]

Entrants

[edit]

46 FIFA-affiliated nations from the AFC entered qualification.[5] In order to determine which nations would compete in the first round and which nations would receive a bye through to the second round, the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015 were used (shown in parentheses).[6]

Bye to second round
(Ranked 1st to 34th) 		Competing in first round
(Ranked 35th to 46th)
  1.  Iran (51)
  2.  Japan (54)
  3.  South Korea (69)
  4.  Uzbekistan (71)
  5.  United Arab Emirates (80)
  6.  Qatar (92)
  7.  Oman (93)
  8.  Jordan (93)
  9.  China (96)
  10.  Australia (100)
  11.  Saudi Arabia (102)
  12.  Bahrain (110)
  13.  Iraq (114)
  14.  Palestine (115)
  15.  Lebanon (122)
  16.  Kuwait (125)
  17.  Philippines (129)
  18.  Maldives (131)
  19.  Vietnam (133)
  20.  Tajikistan (136)
  21.  Myanmar (141)
  22.  Afghanistan (142)
  23.  Thailand (144)
  24.  Turkmenistan (147)
  25.  North Korea (150)
  26.  Syria (151)
  27.  Kyrgyzstan (152)
  28.  Malaysia (154)
  29.  Hong Kong (156)
  30.  Singapore (157)
  31.  Indonesia (159)
  32.  Laos (160)
  33.  Guam (161)
  34.  Bangladesh (165)
  1.  India (171)
  2.  Sri Lanka (172)
  3.  Yemen (176)
  4.  Cambodia (179)
  5.  Chinese Taipei (182)
  6.  Timor-Leste (185)
  7.    Nepal (186)
  8.  Macau (186)
  9.  Pakistan (188)
  10.  Mongolia (194)
  11.  Brunei (198)
  12.  Bhutan (209)

Due to the joint format of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, the hosts of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the United Arab Emirates also entered the second round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers despite having qualified automatically.

Northern Mariana Islands, which is not a FIFA member, were not eligible to enter.

Schedule

[edit]

The schedule of the qualification competition was as follows.[7][8][9][10]

Round Matchday Date
First round First leg 12 March 2015
Second leg 17 March 2015
Second round Matchday 1 11 June 2015
Matchday 2 16 June 2015
Matchday 3 3 September 2015
Matchday 4 8 September 2015
Matchday 5 8 October 2015
Matchday 6 13 October 2015
Matchday 7 12 November 2015
Matchday 8 17 November 2015
Matchday 9 24 March 2016
Matchday 10 29 March 2016
Round Matchday Date
Play-off round Round 1 First leg 2 June 2016
Round 1 Second leg 7 June 2016
Round 2 First leg 6 September 2016
Round 2 Second leg 11 October 2016
Third round Matchday 1 28 March 2017
Matchday 2 13 June 2017
Matchday 3 5 September 2017
Matchday 4 10 October 2017
Matchday 5 14 November 2017
Matchday 6 27 March 2018

First round

[edit]
Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round

The draw for the first round was held on 10 February 2015, 15:30 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[11]

The six teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.[12]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
India  2–0    Nepal 2–0 0–0
Yemen  3–1  Pakistan 3–1 0–0
Timor-Leste  5-1[N 1]  Mongolia 4–1[N 1] 1–0[N 1]
Cambodia  4–1  Macau 3–0 1–1
Chinese Taipei  2–1  Brunei 0–1 2–0
Sri Lanka  1–3  Bhutan 0–1 1–2
Notes
  1. ^ a b c On 12 December 2017, Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Mongolia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.

Second round

[edit]
Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round

The draw for the second round was held on 14 April 2015, 17:00 MST (UTC+8), at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[13][14]

Groups

[edit]
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers
In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):[15]
  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Overall goal difference
  3. Overall goals scored
  4. Points in matches between tied teams
  5. Goal difference in matches between tied teams
  6. Goals scored in matches between tied teams
  7. Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
  8. Fair play points
    • first yellow card: minus 1 point
    • indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points
    • direct red card: minus 4 points
    • yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
  9. Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

Group A

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Saudi Arabia 8 6 2 0 28 4 +24 20 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup — 2–1 3–2 2–0 7–0[a]
2  United Arab Emirates[b] 8 5 2 1 25 4 +21 17 World Cup qualifying third round 1–1 — 2–0 10–0 8–0
3  Palestine 8 3 3 2 22 6 +16 12 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–0 0–0 — 6–0 7–0
4  Malaysia 8 1 1 6 4 29 −25 4 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–3[c] 1–2 0–6 — 1–1[a]
5  Timor-Leste[a] 8 0 2 6 2 36 −34 2 0–10 0–1[a] 1–1[a] 0–1[a] —
Source: [19]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c d e f On 12 December 2017, AFC decided to forfeit the first five matches involving Timor-Leste – both v Malaysia, home v United Arab Emirates, away v Saudi Arbia, and home v Palestine due to the use of falsified documents for their players of Timor-Leste.[16]
  2. ^ United Arab Emirates already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation.
  3. ^ Match abandoned after 87 minutes due to a group of supporters throwing flares at the pitch. A month later, FIFA awarded Saudi Arabia 3–0 win.[17][18]

Group B

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Australia 8 7 0 1 29 4 +25 21 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup — 5–1 3–0 7–0 5–0
2  Jordan 8 5 1 2 21 7 +14 16 Asian Cup qualifying third round 2–0 — 0–0 3–0 8–0
3  Kyrgyzstan 8 4 2 2 10 8 +2 14 1–2 1–0 — 2–2 2–0
4  Tajikistan 8 1 2 5 9 20 −11 5 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–3 1–3 0–1 — 5–0
5  Bangladesh 8 0 1 7 2 32 −30 1 0–4 0–4 1–3 1–1 —
Source: [19]

Group C

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Qatar 8 7 0 1 29 4 +25 21 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup — 1–0 2–0 4–0 15–0
2  China 8 5 2 1 27 1 +26 17 2–0 — 0–0 4–0 12–0
3  Hong Kong 8 4 2 2 13 5 +8 14 Asian Cup qualifying third round 2–3 0–0 — 2–0 7–0
4  Maldives 8 2 0 6 8 20 −12 6 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–1 0–3 0–1 — 4–2
5  Bhutan 8 0 0 8 5 52 −47 0 0–3 0–6 0–1 3–4 —
Source: [19]

Group D

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Iran 8 6 2 0 26 3 +23 20 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup — 2–0 3–1 6–0 4–0
2  Oman 8 4 2 2 11 7 +4 14 Asian Cup qualifying third round 1–1 — 3–1 1–0 3–0
3  Turkmenistan 8 4 1 3 10 11 −1 13 1–1 2–1 — 1–0 2–1
4  Guam 8 2 1 5 3 16 −13 7 0–6 0–0 1–0 — 2–1
5  India 8 1 0 7 5 18 −13 3 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–3[a] 1–2 1–2 1–0 —
Source: [19]
Notes:
  1. ^ FIFA awarded Iran a 3–0 win as a result of India fielding the ineligible player Eugeneson Lyngdoh.[20] The match initially ended 3–0 to Iran.

Group E

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Japan 8 7 1 0 27 0 +27 22 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup — 5–0 0–0 5–0 3–0
2  Syria 8 6 0 2 26 11 +15 18 0–3 — 1–0 5–2 6–0
3  Singapore 8 3 1 4 9 9 0 10 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–3 1–2 — 1–0 2–1
4  Afghanistan 8 3 0 5 8 24 −16 9 0–6 0–6 2–1 — 3–0
5  Cambodia 8 0 0 8 1 27 −26 0 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–2 0–6 0–4 0–1 —
Source: [19]

Group F

[edit]

Indonesia was also drawn into this group, but on 30 May 2015 the country's football association was suspended due to governmental interference,[21] and on 3 June 2015 the team was disqualified and all matches involving it were cancelled.[22]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Thailand 6 4 2 0 14 6 +8 14 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup — 2–2 1–0 4–2 Canc.
2  Iraq 6 3 3 0 13 6 +7 12 2–2 — 1–0 5–1 Canc.
3  Vietnam 6 2 1 3 7 8 −1 7 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–3 1–1 — 4–1 Canc.
4  Chinese Taipei 6 0 0 6 5 19 −14 0 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–2 0–2 1–2 — Canc.
5  Indonesia[a] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Disqualified Canc. Canc. Canc. Canc. —
Source: [19]
Notes:
  1. ^ Indonesia was also drawn into this group, but on 30 May 2015 the country's football association was suspended due to governmental interference,[23] and on 3 June 2015 the team was disqualified and all matches involving it were cancelled.[24]

Group G

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  South Korea 8 8 0 0 27 0 +27 24 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup — 1–0 3–0[a] 4–0 8–0
2  Lebanon 8 3 2 3 12 6 +6 11 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–3 — 0–1 1–1 7–0
3  Kuwait[a] 8 3 1 4 12 10 +2 10 Disqualified 0–1 0–0 — 9–0 0–3[a]
4  Myanmar 8 2 2 4 9 21 −12 8 Asian Cup qualifying third round 0–2 0–2 3–0[a] — 3–1
5  Laos 8 1 1 6 6 29 −23 4 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 0–5 0–2 0–2 2–2 —
Source: [19]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c d During this stage the Kuwait Football Association was suspended after the country had failed to comply with a decision from FIFA that its sports law had to be changed. The three remaining matches involving Kuwait – away v Myanmar, home v Laos, and away v South Korea – were not played as scheduled, and were eventually awarded as 3–0 wins for Kuwait's opponents.[25][26][27] Kuwait was also unable to compete in the Third round of the Asian Cup qualifying, to which it would have advanced based on its ranking.

Group H

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Uzbekistan 8 7 0 1 20 7 +13 21 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup — 3–1 1–0 1–0 1–0
2  North Korea 8 5 1 2 14 8 +6 16 Asian Cup qualifying third round 4–2 — 0–0 2–0 1–0
3  Philippines 8 3 1 4 8 12 −4 10 1–5 3–2 — 2–1 0–1
4  Bahrain 8 3 0 5 10 10 0 9 0–4 0–1 2–0 — 3–0
5  Yemen 8 1 0 7 2 17 −15 3 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round 1–3 0–3[a] 0–2 0–4 —
Source: [19]
Notes:
  1. ^ FIFA awarded North Korea a 3–0 win as a result of Yemen fielding the ineligible player Mudir Al-Radaei, after North Korea had defeated Yemen 1–0. Al-Radaei failed to serve an automatic one match suspension for receiving two yellow cards earlier in the First round of the competition.[28]

Ranking of runner-up teams

[edit]

To determine the four best runner-up teams, the following criteria are used:

  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Goal difference
  3. Goals scored
  4. Fair play points
  5. Drawing of lots

As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.[29]

Pos Grp Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 F  Iraq 6 3 3 0 13 6 +7 12 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup
2 E  Syria 6 4 0 2 14 11 +3 12
3 A  United Arab Emirates[a] 6 3 2 1 16 4 +12 11 World Cup qualifying third round
4 C  China 6 3 2 1 9 1 +8 11 World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup
5 H  North Korea 6 3 1 2 10 8 +2 10 Asian Cup qualifying third round
6 B  Jordan 6 3 1 2 9 7 +2 10
7 D  Oman 6 2 2 2 6 6 0 8
8 G  Lebanon 6 1 2 3 3 6 −3 5
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fourth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Fair play points; 5) Drawing of lots.
Notes:
  1. ^ United Arab Emirates already qualified for the Asian Cup as the host nation.

Ranking of fourth-placed teams

[edit]

To determine the four best fourth-placed teams, the following criteria were used:

  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Goal difference
  3. Goals scored
  4. Fair play points
  5. Drawing of lots

As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team are not counted when determining the ranking of the fourth-placed teams.[29]

Pos Grp Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 D  Guam 6 1 1 4 1 14 −13 4 Asian Cup qualifying third round
2 G  Myanmar 6 1 1 4 4 18 −14 4
3 H  Bahrain 6 1 0 5 3 10 −7 3
4 E  Afghanistan 6 1 0 5 4 24 −20 3
5 B  Tajikistan 6 0 1 5 3 19 −16 1 Asian Cup qualifying play-off round
6 F  Chinese Taipei 6 0 0 6 5 19 −14 0
7 C  Maldives 6 0 0 6 0 15 −15 0
8 A  Malaysia 6 0 0 6 1 29 −28 0
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fourth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Fair play points; 5) Drawing of lots.

Play-off round

[edit]
Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification – play-off round

At an AFC Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that two rounds of play-off matches would be introduced into the qualification procedure to determine the final eight teams for the main qualifying round.[4][30]

A total of eight slots for the third round were available from this round (five from round 1, three from round 2).[30] The three teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.[12]

The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 April 2016, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[31]

Round 1

[edit]

The lowest seeded team, Bhutan, received a bye, and the remaining ten teams were drawn into five pairs. Each pair played two home-and-away matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.[30]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Chinese Taipei  2–4  Cambodia 2–2 0–2
Maldives  0–4  Yemen 0–2 0–2
Tajikistan  6–0  Bangladesh 5–0 1–0
Malaysia  6–0  Timor-Leste 3–0
(Forfeited)[16] 		3–0
(Forfeited)[16]
Laos  1–7  India 0–1 1–6

Note: Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Malaysia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.[16] Both matches originally ended as 3–0 wins to Malaysia.

Round 2

[edit]

The five losers from round 1 joined Bhutan in this round. The six teams were drawn into three pairs. Each pair played two home-and-away matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.[30]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Maldives  5–1  Laos 4–0 1–1
Bangladesh  1–3  Bhutan 0–0 1–3
Timor-Leste  2–4  Chinese Taipei 1–2 1–2

Third round

[edit]
Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification – third round

A total of 24 teams competed in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Since the 2019 hosts United Arab Emirates advanced to the third round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts was no longer necessary, and a total of 12 slots for the AFC Asian Cup were available from this round.

Due to the withdrawal of Guam and the suspension of Kuwait, the AFC decided to invite both Nepal and Macau, the top two teams of the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup, to re-enter 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification as replacements in order to maintain 24 teams in the third round of the competition.[32]

The draw for the third round was held on 23 January 2017, 16:00 GST, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[32] The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four.[33]

Groups

[edit]

Group A

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  India 6 4 1 1 11 5 +6 13[a] 2019 AFC Asian Cup — 1–0 2–2 4–1
2  Kyrgyzstan 6 4 1 1 14 8 +6 13[a] 2–1 — 5–1 1–0
3  Myanmar 6 2 2 2 10 10 0 8 0–1 2–2 — 1–0
4  Macau 6 0 0 6 4 16 −12 0 0–2 3–4 0–4 —
Source: AFC
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head results: India 1–0 Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan 2–1 India (India are ahead of Kyrgyzstan on head to head away goals).

Group B

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Lebanon 6 5 1 0 14 4 +10 16 2019 AFC Asian Cup — 5–0 2–0 2–1
2  North Korea 6 3 2 1 13 10 +3 11 2–2 — 2–0 4–1
3  Hong Kong 6 1 2 3 4 7 −3 5 0–1 1–1 — 2–0
4  Malaysia 6 0 1 5 5 15 −10 1 1–2 1–4 1–1 —
Source: AFC

Group C

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Jordan 6 3 3 0 16 5 +11 12 2019 AFC Asian Cup — 1–1 4–1 7–0
2  Vietnam 6 2 4 0 9 3 +6 10 0–0 — 0–0 5–0
3  Afghanistan 6 1 3 2 7 10 −3 6 3–3 1–1 — 2–1
4  Cambodia 6 1 0 5 3 17 −14 3 0–1 1–2 1–0 —
Source: AFC

Group D

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Oman 6 5 0 1 28 5 +23 15[a] 2019 AFC Asian Cup — 1–0 5–0 14–0
2  Palestine 6 5 0 1 25 3 +22 15[a] 2–1 — 8–1 10–0
3  Maldives 6 2 0 4 11 19 −8 6 1–3 0–3 — 7–0
4  Bhutan 6 0 0 6 2 39 −37 0 2–4 0–2 0–2 —
Source: AFC
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head results: Palestine 2–1 Oman, Oman 1–0 Palestine (Oman are ahead of Palestine on away goals).

Group E

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Bahrain 6 4 1 1 15 3 +12 13 2019 AFC Asian Cup — 4–0 5–0 0–0
2  Turkmenistan 6 3 1 2 9 10 −1 10 1–2 — 2–1 2–1
3  Chinese Taipei 6 3 0 3 7 12 −5 9 2–1 1–3 — 1–0
4  Singapore 6 0 2 4 3 9 −6 2 0–3 1–1 1–2 —
Source: AFC

Group F

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Philippines 6 3 3 0 13 8 +5 12 2019 AFC Asian Cup — 2–2 2–1 4–1
2  Yemen 6 2 4 0 7 5 +2 10 1–1 — 2–1 2–1
3  Tajikistan 6 2 1 3 10 9 +1 7 3–4 0–0 — 3–0
4    Nepal 6 0 2 4 3 11 −8 2 0–0 0–0 1–2 —
Source: AFC

Qualified teams

[edit]
Qualification status
  Country qualified for Asian Cup
  Country failed to qualify
  Country disqualified or withdrew

The following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in AFC Asian Cup1
 United Arab Emirates Hosts 9 March 2015 9 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Saudi Arabia Second round group A winners 24 March 2016 9 (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Australia Second round group B winners 29 March 2016 3 (2007, 2011, 2015)
 Qatar Second round group C winners 17 November 2015 9 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Iran Second round group D winners 29 March 2016 13 (1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Japan Second round group E winners 24 March 2016 8 (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Thailand Second round group F winners 24 March 2016 6 (1972, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007)
 South Korea Second round group G winners 13 January 2016 13 (1956, 1960, 1964, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Uzbekistan Second round group H winners 29 March 2016 6 (1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Iraq Second round 1st best runners-up 29 March 2016 8 (1972, 1976, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Syria Second round 2nd best runners-up 29 March 2016 5 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2011)
 China Second round 4th best runners-up 29 March 2016 11 (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 India Third Round Group A winners 11 October 2017 3 (1964, 1984, 2011)
 Kyrgyzstan Third Round Group A runners-up 22 March 2018 0 (debut)
 Lebanon Third Round Group B winners 10 November 2017 1 (2000)
 North Korea Third Round Group B runners-up 27 March 2018 4 (1980, 1992, 2011, 2015)
 Jordan Third Round Group C winners 14 November 2017 3 (2004, 2011, 2015)
 Vietnam Third Round Group C runners-up 14 November 2017 3 (19562, 19602, 2007)
 Palestine Third Round Group D runners-up 10 October 2017 1 (2015)
 Oman Third Round Group D winners 10 October 2017 3 (2004, 2007, 2015)
 Bahrain Third Round Group E winners 14 November 2017 5 (1988, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015)
 Turkmenistan Third Round Group E runners-up 14 November 2017 1 (2004)
 Philippines Third Round Group F winners 27 March 2018 0 (debut)
 Yemen Third Round Group F runners-up 27 March 2018 0 (debut)

Notes:

1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Goalscorers

[edit]
14 goals
11 goals
10 goals
9 goals
8 goals
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal