World Cup 2026 FIFA World Cup (Qualifiers)

[happy_eagle]

Not 100% but I think top 2 go through? and 3rd and 4th go to another round?

Third Round (current groups just announced)
3 groups of 6
Top 2 in each group auto qualify for World Cup (6 total)
Next 2 in each group (third and fourth) go to Round 4 (6 total)

Fourth Round
2 groups of 3
Winner of each group auto qualifies for the world cup (2 total)
Runner up of each group goes to Fifth round (2 total)

Fifth Round
Intercontinental playoff between the two runners up in Fourth Round.
Winner I assume plays a South American Team ?


So realistically I'd say we should either qualify in the Third (if we can beat one of Saudi/Japan) or Fourth rounds. We would be worried if we had to go to the intercontinental playoff.

 

[FreoRicci]

Group A

Iran
Kyrgyzstan
Qatar
UAE
North Korea
Uzbekistan


Any chance of that group?
Far out Australia avoid Iran like the plague for years now

 

[AJ_2000]

Third Round (current groups just announced)
3 groups of 6
Top 2 in each group auto qualify for World Cup (6 total)
Next 2 in each group (third and fourth) go to Round 4 (6 total)

Fourth Round
2 groups of 3
Winner of each group auto qualifies for the world cup (2 total)
Runner up of each group goes to Fifth round (2 total)

Fifth Round
Intercontinental playoff between the two runners up in Fourth Round.
Winner I assume plays a South American Team ?


So realistically I'd say we should either qualify in the Third (if we can beat one of Saudi/Japan) or Fourth rounds. We would be worried if we had to go to the intercontinental playoff.

We've done everything the hard way over the past few qualifying campaigns, so it wouldn't shock me we end up in the intercontinental playoffs

 

[Leon]

Haven’t we had Japan and Saudi Arabia virtually every qualifying campaign since we joined Asia?

 

[Satan]

Haven’t we had Japan and Saudi Arabia virtually every qualifying campaign since we joined Asia?

Seems that way

 

[AJ_2000]

Here's the schedule like last time we close out the campaign with the tough games. We'd want to sort out stuff out earlier than last time:

Socceroos v Bahrain – Thursday, 5 September

Indonesia v Socceroos – Tuesday, 10 September

Socceroos v China PR – Thursday, 10 October

Japan v Socceroos – Tuesday, 15 October

Socceroos v Saudi Arabia – Thursday, 14 November

Bahrain v Socceroos – Tuesday, 19 November

Socceroos v Indonesia – Thursday, 20 March

China PR v Socceroos – Tuesday, 25 March

Socceroos v Japan – Thursday, 5 June

Saudi Arabia v Socceroos – Tuesday, 10 June

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Haven’t we had Japan and Saudi Arabia virtually every qualifying campaign since we joined Asia?

Makes it even more ridiculous that we've never played S. Korea in a WC qualifier and haven't played Iran in one since THAT game.

 

[RossFC]

There's no depth in Asia, it's different missing out in Europe or South America federations, UEFA and CONCACAF is it? I can never remember all the acronyms.

If we can't make it in with 8.5 Asian confederation spots, we simply suck.

I think we will qualify in the round after, but I don't think we get close to matching the progression of last world cup.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

There's no depth in Asia, it's different missing out in Europe or South America federations, UEFA and CONCACAF is it? I can never remember all the acronyms.

If we can't make it in with 8.5 Asian confederation spots, we simply suck.

Just on South America, that's also become a bit of a joke with as many as 7/10 countries having the potential to qualify. Brazil are currently sixth which, under the old system, would mean they'd even struggle to make the inter-continental play-offs but there's just about zero chance they'll miss now.

 

[Zidane98]

Group A

Iran
Kyrgyzstan
Qatar
UAE
North Korea
Uzbekistan


Any chance of that group?
Far out Australia avoid Iran like the plague for years now

Some of the finest proponents of human rights in this group.

 

[FreoRicci]

Makes it even more ridiculous that we've never played S. Korea in a WC qualifier and haven't played Iran in one since THAT game.

Exactly.
Not even in AFC Asian Cup. 2007 to 2023. Avoided Iran every time.

 

[AJ_2000]

I think we will qualify in the round after, but I don't think we get close to matching the progression of last world cup.

We might be able to match our last performance with the new format a Round of 16 appearance.

48 teams, 12 groups of 4, with top 2 and 8 best 3rd placed teams qualify for round of 32 knockouts.

I'm not a fan of 3rd placed teams staying in a tournament after the group phase, but short of expanding to 64 it's going to be a thing. So can we finish 2nd or 3rd in our group and win a knockout game to make the round of 16? I'd think we're a chance. The form and expectations going to Qatar was that this was one of our worst WC squads, yet it had our best result.

 

[ioppolo]

Third Round (current groups just announced)
3 groups of 6
Top 2 in each group auto qualify for World Cup (6 total)
Next 2 in each group (third and fourth) go to Round 4 (6 total)

Fourth Round
2 groups of 3
Winner of each group auto qualifies for the world cup (2 total)
Runner up of each group goes to Fifth round (2 total)

Fifth Round
Intercontinental playoff between the two runners up in Fourth Round.
Winner I assume plays a South American Team ?


So realistically I'd say we should either qualify in the Third (if we can beat one of Saudi/Japan) or Fourth rounds. We would be worried if we had to go to the intercontinental playoff.

Surely that fourth round is home and away (4 matches total). Quite a slog this new qualifying process.

 

[FreoRicci]

Surely that fourth round is home and away (4 matches total). Quite a slog this new qualifying process.

Australians are fickle with qualifying for World Cups.
It’s so brutal through Asia. Having to go to Middle East as well as Japan.

 

[Zidane98]

Australians are fickle with qualifying for World Cups.
It’s so brutal through Asia. Having to go to Middle East as well as Japan.

Saudi have gone backwards recently, got done by Jordan at home.

I reckon we'll qualify second. Not much competition in the rest of the group and our first 3 games are not that difficult.

 

[Aussie in exile]

Tough group for Australia
View attachment 2031683

Apart from Japan, Australia will win all their games home and away.

 

[FreoRicci]

Saudi have gone backwards recently, got done by Jordan at home.

I reckon we'll qualify second. Not much competition in the rest of the group and our first 3 games are not that difficult.

Regardless of their form, Saudis are still stubborn tactically and just sit back waiting for the counter.
Graham Arnold with his negative tactics will open the door for these teams if Australia can’t score 1 or 2 early

 

[peetoo]

Tough group for Australia
View attachment 2031683

Wow group c is the Asian super league

 

[GC2015]

8.5 spots. If we're not at least the 8th best team in Asia then we don't deserve shit.

Pretty confident that we're at least the 8th best team in Asia. We may not beat Japan or Saudi, but we should find our way through in the 4th round against the likes of the UAE and Oman. Would be nice to finish top 2 and not have to worry about that though.

 

[Zidane98]

Pretty confident that we're at least the 8th best team in Asia. We may not beat Japan or Saudi, but we should find our way through in the 4th round against the likes of the UAE and Oman. Would be nice to finish top 2 and not have to worry about that though.

Well beat Saudi. We were moments from beating Sth Korea.

 

[GC2015]

Well beat Saudi. We were moments from beating Sth Korea.

Then we should easily get through in the third round. Only concern would be Japan but fortunately there there's two direct spots up for grabs.

 

[Toffee Lion]

So with a loss to Bahrain, what does this do for us in the group now?

Hard to imagine we finish above Saudi & Japan?

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

So with a loss to Bahrain, what does this do for us in the group now?

Hard to imagine we finish above Saudi & Japan?

I said in the other thread, we're a genuine chance of not even making it to the next stage, especially if we keep Arnold. We wouldn't deserve to qualify either.

 

[peetoo]

Is klopp gettable? For European based games only

 

[Slammin Sammy Says]

Slightly wrong spot for this comment but could FIFA please move the October window to late January?

September
November
January
March
June

This is much more evenly spaced than currently