2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round
Tournament details
Dates	1 September 2016 – 5 September 2017
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	60
Goals scored	117 (1.95 per match)
Attendance	1,950,068 (32,501 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Tomi Juric ; Mohannad Abdul-Raheem ; Nawaf Al-Abed ; Ahmed Khalil ; (5 goals each)
	← 2014 2022 →

The third round of AFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification was played from 1 September 2016 to 5 September 2017.^[1]

Format

A total of twelve teams which advanced from the second round (the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up) were divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the two third-placed teams advanced to the fourth round.

Qualified teams

Group (Second round)	Winners	Runners-up (Best 4)
A	Saudi Arabia	United Arab Emirates
B	Australia	—
C	Qatar	China
D	Iran	—
E	Japan	Syria
F	Thailand	Iraq
G	South Korea	—
H	Uzbekistan	—

Seeding

The draw for the third round was held on 12 April 2016, at 16:30 MST (UTC+8), at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[2]^[3]

The seeding were based on the FIFA World Rankings of April 2016 (shown in parentheses below).^[4] The twelve teams were seeded into six pots:^[5]

Pot 1 contained the teams ranked 1–2.
Pot 2 contained the teams ranked 3–4.
Pot 3 contained the teams ranked 5–6.
Pot 4 contained the teams ranked 7–8.
Pot 5 contained the teams ranked 9–10.
Pot 6 contained the teams ranked 11–12.

Each group contained one team from each of the six pots. The fixtures of each group were automatically decided based on the respective pot of each team.

Note: Bolded teams qualified for the World Cup. Italicised teams qualified for the fourth round.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Iran (42) Australia (50)	South Korea (56) Japan (57)	Saudi Arabia (60) Uzbekistan (66)
Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
United Arab Emirates (68) China (81)	Qatar (83) Iraq (105)	Syria (110) Thailand (119)

Groups

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):^[6] Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss) Overall goal difference Overall goals scored Points in matches between tied teams Goal difference in matches between tied teams Goals scored in matches between tied teams Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format) 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 Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	10	6	4	0	10	2	+8	22	2018 FIFA World Cup	—	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–0	2–0
2	South Korea	10	4	3	3	11	10	+1	15	2018 FIFA World Cup	0–0	—	1–0	2–1	3–2	3–2
3	Syria	10	3	4	3	9	8	+1	13	Fourth round	0–0	0–0	—	1–0	2–2	3–1
4	Uzbekistan	10	4	1	5	6	7	−1	13		0–1	0–0	1–0	—	2–0	1–0
5	China	10	3	3	4	8	10	−2	12		0–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	—	0–0
6	Qatar	10	2	1	7	8	15	−7	7		0–1	3–2	1–0	0–1	1–2	—

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

1 September 2016

20:00 UTC+9

South Korea	3–2	China
Zheng Zhi 21' (o.g.) Lee Chung-yong 63' Koo Ja-cheol 66'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Yu Hai 74' Hao Junmin 77'

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 51,238

Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)

1 September 2016

20:00 UTC+5

Uzbekistan	1–0	Syria
Geynrikh 73'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 29,100

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

1 September 2016

21:00 UTC+4:30

Iran	2–0	Qatar
Ghoochannejhad 90+4' Jahanbakhsh 90+6'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 78,000

Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

6 September 2016

19:35 UTC+8

China	0–0	Iran
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Shenyang

Attendance: 35,776

Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)

6 September 2016

20:00 UTC+8

Syria	0–0	South Korea
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, Seremban (Malaysia)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 4,350

Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

6 September 2016

19:00 UTC+3

Qatar	0–1	Uzbekistan
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Krimets 86'

Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 7,898

Referee: Ali Abdulnabi (Bahrain)

6 October 2016

20:00 UTC+9

South Korea	3–2	Qatar
Ki Sung-yueng 11' Ji Dong-won 56' Son Heung-min 58'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Al-Haydos 16' (pen.) Soria 45'

Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon

Attendance: 32,550

Referee: Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob (Malaysia)

6 October 2016

19:35 UTC+8

China	0–1	Syria
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Al-Mawas 54'

Shaanxi Province Stadium, Xi'an

Attendance: 37,368

Referee: Muhammad Taqi (Singapore)

6 October 2016

18:00 UTC+5

Uzbekistan	0–1	Iran
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Hosseini 27'

Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 34,000

Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

11 October 2016

18:00 UTC+5

Uzbekistan	2–0	China
Bikmaev 50' Shukurov 85'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 21,503

Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

11 October 2016

18:15 UTC+3:30

Iran	1–0	South Korea
Azmoun 25'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 75,800

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

11 October 2016

19:00 UTC+3

Qatar	1–0	Syria
Al-Haydos 37' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 9,940

Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

15 November 2016

20:00 UTC+9

South Korea	2–1	Uzbekistan
Nam Tae-hee 67' Koo Ja-cheol 85'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Bikmaev 25'

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 30,526

Referee: Fahad Al-Mirdasi (Saudi Arabia)

15 November 2016

19:35 UTC+8

China	0–0	Qatar
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Tuodong Stadium, Kunming

Attendance: 32,763

Referee: Mohanad Qasim Eesee Sarray (Iraq)

15 November 2016

20:45 UTC+8^{[note 2]}

Syria	0–0	Iran
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, Seremban (Malaysia)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 4,560

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

23 March 2017

19:35 UTC+8

China	1–0	South Korea
Yu Dabao 35'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Helong Stadium, Changsha

Attendance: 30,950

Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

23 March 2017

20:00 UTC+8

Syria	1–0	Uzbekistan
Kharbin 90+1' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Hang Jebat Stadium, Krubong (Malaysia)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 350

Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)

23 March 2017

19:00 UTC+3

Qatar	0–1	Iran
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Taremi 52'

Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 10,237

Referee: Liu Kwok Man (Hong Kong)

28 March 2017

20:00 UTC+9

South Korea	1–0	Syria
Hong Jeong-ho 4'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 30,352

Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)

28 March 2017

16:30 UTC+4:30

Iran	1–0	China
Taremi 46'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 78,115

Referee: Muhammad Taqi (Singapore)

28 March 2017

18:00 UTC+5

Uzbekistan	1–0	Qatar
Ahmedov 65'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 19,000

Referee: Mohanad Qasim Eesee Sarray (Iraq)

12 June 2017

21:15 UTC+4:30

Iran	2–0	Uzbekistan
Azmoun 23' Taremi 88'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 59,730

Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

13 June 2017

21:45 UTC+8

Syria	2–2	China
Al-Mawas 12' (pen.) Al Saleh 90+3'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Gao Lin 68' (pen.) Wu Xi 75'

Hang Jebat Stadium, Krubong (Malaysia)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 4,737

Referee: Ammar Al-Jeneibi (United Arab Emirates)

13 June 2017

22:00 UTC+3

Qatar	3–2	South Korea
Al-Haydos 25', 75' Afif 51'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Ki Sung-yueng 62' Hwang Hee-chan 70'

Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 5,373

Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

31 August 2017

20:00 UTC+8

China	1–0	Uzbekistan
Gao Lin 84' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, Wuhan

Attendance: 51,666

Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

31 August 2017

21:00 UTC+9

South Korea	0–0	Iran
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 63,124

Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

31 August 2017

20:00 UTC+8

Syria	3–1	Qatar
Kharbin 7', 54' Al-Mawas 90+5'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Assadalla 35'

Hang Jebat Stadium, Krubong (Malaysia)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 300

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

5 September 2017

18:00 UTC+3

Qatar	1–2	China
Afif 47'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Xiao Zhi 74' Wu Lei 84'

Khalifa International Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 5,686

Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

5 September 2017

19:30 UTC+4:30

Iran	2–2	Syria
Azmoun 45', 64'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Haj Mohamad 13' Al Somah 90+3'

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 62,165

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

5 September 2017

20:00 UTC+5

Uzbekistan	0–0	South Korea
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 34,000

Referee: Muhammad Taqi (Singapore)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	10	6	2	2	17	7	+10	20	2018 FIFA World Cup	—	2–1	2–0	1–2	2–1	4–0
2	Saudi Arabia	10	6	1	3	17	10	+7	19	2018 FIFA World Cup	1–0	—	2–2	3–0	1–0	1–0
3	Australia	10	5	4	1	16	11	+5	19	Fourth round	1–1	3–2	—	2–0	2–0	2–1
4	United Arab Emirates	10	4	1	5	10	13	−3	13		0–2	2–1	0–1	—	2–0	3–1
5	Iraq	10	3	2	5	11	12	−1	11		1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	—	4–0
6	Thailand	10	0	2	8	6	24	−18	2		0–2	0–3	2–2	1–1	1–2	—