2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification is the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the international men's football championship of Asia. For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament will be contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that had been used since 2004.

The qualification process will involve four rounds, where the first two doubled as the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams.

Format
The proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds for FIFA World Cup qualifiers with those for the Asian Cup was ratified by the AFC Competitions Committee.

The qualification structure is as follows:
 * First round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 35–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
 * Second round: A total of 40 teams (teams ranked 1–34 and six first round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches.
 * The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up advanced to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification as well as qualify for the AFC Asian Cup finals.
 * The next 16 highest ranked teams (the remaining four group runners-up, the eight third-placed teams and the four best group fourth-placed teams) advanced directly to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
 * The remaining 12 teams entered the play-off round to contest the remaining eight spots in the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
 * Play-off round: At a Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that a play-off round of qualifying would be introduced into the qualification procedure. There were two rounds of home-and-away two-legged play-off matches to determine the final eight qualifiers for the third round.
 * Third round: The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches, and they compete for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

The play-off round represented a change from the initially announced qualification format – which saw the remaining fourth-placed teams and the four best group fifth-placed teams also advance to the third round.

Schedule
The schedule of the qualification competition is as follows.

First round
The draw for the first round was held on 10 February 2015, 15:30 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The six teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.


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Second round
The draw for the second round was held on 14 April 2015, 17:00 MST (UTC+8), at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ranking of runner-up teams
To determine the four best runner-up teams, the following criteria are used:
 * 1) Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
 * 2) Goal difference
 * 3) Goals scored
 * 4) Play-off match(es) on neutral ground (if approved by FIFA Organizing Committee), with extra time and penalty shoot-out if necessary

As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contains only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team are not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.

Ranking of fourth-placed teams
To determine the four best fourth-placed teams, the following criteria were used:
 * 1) Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
 * 2) Goal difference
 * 3) Goals scored
 * 4) Play-off match(es) on neutral ground (if approved by AFC Organizing Committee), with extra time and penalty shoot-out if necessary

As a result of Indonesia being disqualified due to FIFA suspension, Group F contains only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team are not counted when determining the ranking of the fourth-placed teams.

Play-off round
At an AFC Competition Committee meeting in November 2014, it was decided that two rounds of play-off matches would be introduced into the qualification procedure to determine the final eight teams for the main qualifying round.

A total of eight slots for the third round were available from this round (five from round 1, three from round 2). The three teams eliminated from this stage progressed to the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup.

The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 April 2016, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Round 1
The lowest seeded team, Bhutan, received a bye, and the remaining ten teams were drawn into five pairs. Each pair played two home-and-away matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.

The first legs were played on 2 June, and the second legs were played on 6–7 June 2016.

Note: Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Malaysia due to the use of falsified documents for their players. Both matches originally ended as 3–0 wins to Malaysia.
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Round 2
The five losers from round 1 joined Bhutan in this round. The six teams were drawn into three pairs. Each pair played two home-and-away matches, with the winners qualifying for the third round.

The first legs were played on 6 September and 8 October, and the second legs were played on 10 and 11 October 2016.


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Third round
A total of 24 teams will compete in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Since the 2019 hosts United Arab Emirates have advanced to the third round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts is no longer necessary, and a total of 12 slots for the AFC Asian Cup will be available from this round.

Due to the withdrawal of Guam and the suspension of Kuwait, the AFC decided to invite both Nepal and Macau, the top two teams of the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup, to re-enter 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification as replacements in order to maintain 24 teams in the third round of the competition.

The draw for the third round was held on 23 January 2017, 16:00 GST, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four.