Iran learn fate in third phase of 2026 World Cup qualifiers

TehranTimes – TEHRAN,  Iran are drawn in Group B of the third round of Asia’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Thursday.

Iran will be aiming to progress to a fourth World Cup in a row – and seventh in total – after appearing in 2014, 2018 and 2022 and take on a Qatar side attempting to qualify for the tournament for the first time.

The Qataris, who won a second consecutive Asian Cup title in February, played at the 2022 edition as hosts but have never progressed to the finals through the preliminaries.

United Arab Emirates and Kyrgyzstan and DPR Korea are also in the group.

“If you look at our group, it’s not easy, we have UAE and Qatar but if you look at our results from the previous round, (it gives us confidence) to qualify,” Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said.

Korea Republic leads the Group B cast with Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait also in the hunt for the two automatic spots to the Finals.

Korea will be the favorites, having made 10 consecutive FIFA World Cup appearances since 1986.

Heading Group C will be Japan, who are seeking to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the eighth consecutive time.

Standing in their way will be Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China PR and Indonesia.

The preliminaries begin on Sept. 5 and run until June 10, with the winners and runners-up in each group qualifying automatically for the finals in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The third and fourth place finishers in each group will advance to a fourth round, which will determine the continent’s two remaining guaranteed qualifiers.