Arab teams plot paths to 2026 World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup

The 2026 World Cup, set to be hosted in the US, Mexico and Canada, may still be three years away but the 46 nations that make up the Asian Football Confederation now know the path they will have to tread on the road to qualification.

The preliminary round of qualifying in Asia — which doubles up as qualification for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia — will begin on Oct. 12, a mere 298 days after Argentina were crowned world champions in Doha.

Qatar 2022 was seen as something of a breakthrough for Arab football, highlighted by Saudi Arabia’s win over Argentina, Tunisia’s victory over France, and Morocco’s historic run to the semifinals. That said, Arab nations from the Asian continent went 28 years without a win at a World Cup finals and the contest’s qualifiers have never generated more than one finalist in a single edition.

With the finals expanding from 32 to 48 teams and Asia’s allotment doubling from four to eight spots, there is hope for that trend to be broken.

The draw includes an initial preliminary designed to reduce the field from 46 to 36 teams by means of 10 home-and-away playoffs to be held from Oct. 12 to 17.

The 10 preliminary winners will then be grouped with the rest of the field in nine groups of four teams with play slated to begin on Nov. 16. The top-two teams in each group will advance to an expanded third round of qualification and clinch qualification to the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.

The 18 teams will then be divided into three groups of six with the top-two finishers in each group qualifying for the World Cup Finals and the bottom-two teams eliminated from contention.

The third- and fourth-place teams in each group, six in total, advance to the fourth round which will