A total of 24 teams (22 teams which advanced from the second round and two teams which will advance from the play-off round) will participate in the third round to compete for the final 11 slots in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.[1] Since the 2023 hosts China advanced to the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts was no longer necessary.
The 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four teams to play single round-robin matches in six centralised venues.[2] The group winners and the best five runners-up across all groups will qualify for the Asian Cup, where they are joined by China and by the 12 teams which qualified directly from the second round.[1]
On 17 February 2022, The AFC announced the 6 countries that will be hosting the third round: India, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia and Uzbekistan.[3]
^Since Qatar qualified to the Asian Cup as second round group winner, the fifth runner-up also qualified to the third round of AFC qualification for the World Cup, while the three bottom-ranked runners-up will compete in the third round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification.
Seeding
The seeding will be based on the FIFA World Rankings at the time of the draw on 24 February 2022.[4] Teams from the host countries will be placed in a separate pot allotted for Hosts MAs (Member Associations), although their final group positions will reflect their original draw seeding.[5]
Host Pot contains the teams from the host countries (group positions will reflect their original draw seeding positions).
Pot 1 contains the teams ranked 1–6 (except Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, and India).
Pot 2 contains the teams ranked 7–12 (except Kuwait).
Pot 3 contains the teams ranked 13–18 (except Malaysia).
Pot 4 contains the teams ranked 19–24 (except Mongolia).
The 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four. Each group contains one team from the host pot and the remaining seeding pots, except for the original seeding pot of the host country.[note 1]
The winner of each group (qualify directly for the final tournament).
The runner-up of each group (may qualify for the final tournament if they are among the five best runners-up).[note 2]
Tiebreakers
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order (Regulations Article 7.3):[1]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying criteria 1 to 4, a subset of teams is still tied, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
^The arrangement is based upon the FIFA World Rankings of February 2022.
^Since thirteen teams instead of twelve have qualified for the finals from the second round, there are only eleven remaining slots available. Hence, the best five second placed teams out of six groups will qualify for the Asian Cup finals.
Philippines
Maldives
Kuwait
Jordan
Nepal
Bahrain
Hong Kong
Cambodia
Uzbekistan
Palestine
Singapore
Yemen
India
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Tajikistan
Kyrgyzstan
Mongolia
Myanmar
Malaysia
Thailand
Indonesia
Turkmenistan
Sri Lanka