Kuala Lumpur, May 2 (QNA) - Three prized slots in the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Qualifiers Final Round are on offer via Playoffs with the official draw on May 9, 2024, set to chart the path forward for six teams, reported AFC on its website.
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Macau, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste will be paired in a matchup of the six lowest-ranked losing teams from the FIFA World Cup 2026 Preliminary Competition and the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 with home and away encounters scheduled for September 5 (first leg) and September 10 (second leg).
The winning trio will join Bhutan, Maldives and Laos, who punched their tickets to the Qualifiers Final Round as the three best-ranked losing teams from the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1, alongside 18 teams (all third and fourth-placed teams from across nine groups) from Round 2.
In line with the AFC Competitions Committees decision, the seedings for the draw will be based on the latest FIFA Ranking available prior to the draw, which happens to be the one released on April 4, 2024.
The six teams will be seeded into two pots of three teams each, as below: Pot 1: Cambodia (ranked 179th), Macau (186th), Mongolia (191st) Pot 2: Brunei Darussalam (194th), Timor-Leste (198th), Sri Lanka (204th) Teams from Pot 2 will be drawn first and placed as the home team for the first leg, with teams from Pot 1 to host the second leg.
The Qualifiers Final Round will be contested over six match days, starting March 25, 2025 and culminating on March 31 2026, in a home-and-away format between six groups of four teams each.
The winner of each group (six teams) will advance to the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Finals, joining the 18 (top two teams from across nine groups) that qualified from the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2. (QNA)