2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked as follows:

1. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
2. goal difference in matches between the tied teams
3. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
4. goal difference in all group matches
5. greater number of goals scored in all group matches
6. a play-off on neutral ground, with extra time and penalties if necessary (in qualifying)
7. drawing of lots (at the final event)

This is a change from the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where total goal difference was the first tiebreaker.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Turkmenistan	13–0	Afghanistan	11–0	2–0
Chinese Taipei	6–1	Macau	3–0	3–1
Bangladesh	0–4	Tajikistan	0–2	0–2
Laos	0–3	Sri Lanka	0–0	0–3
Pakistan	0–6	Kyrgyzstan	0–2	0–4
Mongolia	0–13	Maldives	0–1	0–12

Guam and Nepal were scheduled to play against each other on November 21 and 25; Nepal withdrew, so Guam progressed to the 2nd round, but Guam later withdrew.

FIFA then decided to elect a "lucky loser", to select the best of the teams that lost, to advance to the Second Round.

The losers were compared, using the following criteria to break ties: a) number of points; b) goal difference; c) goals scored.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Laos	2	0	1	1	0	3	−3	1
Bangladesh	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	0
Macau	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5	0
Pakistan	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0
Afghanistan	2	0	0	2	0	13	−13	0
Mongolia	2	0	0	2	0	13	−13	0

Laos advanced to the Second Round.

In the second round, the 25 teams who received byes, as well as the 7 play-off round winners, were split into eight groups of four teams each. Teams played home-and-away games with the other teams in their group, and the top-ranked team qualified for the third round.

Group 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iran	6	5	0	1	22	4	+18	15		—	0–1	3–1	7–0
Jordan	6	4	0	2	10	6	+4	12		0–2	—	1–0	5–0
Qatar	6	3	0	3	16	8	+8	9		2–3	2–0	—	5–0
Laos	6	0	0	6	3	33	−30	0		0–7	2–3	1–6	—

Source:

Group 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Uzbekistan	6	5	1	0	16	3	+13	16		—	1–1	3–0	6–1
Iraq	6	3	2	1	17	7	+10	11		1–2	—	4–1	6–1
Palestine	6	2	1	3	11	11	0	7		0–3	1–1	—	8–0
Chinese Taipei	6	0	0	6	3	26	−23	0		0–1	1–4	0–1	—

Source:

Group 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Japan	6	6	0	0	16	1	+15	18		—	1–0	7–0	1–0
Oman	6	3	1	2	14	3	+11	10		0–1	—	0–0	7–0
India	6	1	1	4	2	18	−16	4		0–4	1–5	—	1–0
Singapore	6	1	0	5	3	13	−10	3		1–2	0–2	2–0	—

Source:

Group 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kuwait	6	5	0	1	15	2	+13	15		—	1–0	4–0	6–1
China PR	6	5	0	1	14	1	+13	15		1–0	—	7–0	4–0
Hong Kong	6	2	0	4	5	15	−10	6		0–2	0–1	—	2–0
Malaysia	6	0	0	6	2	18	−16	0		0–2	0–1	1–3	—

Source:

Group 5

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
North Korea	6	3	2	1	11	5	+6	11		—	0–0	4–1	2–1
United Arab Emirates	6	3	1	2	6	6	0	10		1–0	—	1–0	3–0
Thailand	6	2	1	3	9	10	−1	7		1–4	3–0	—	1–1
Yemen	6	1	2	3	6	11	−5	5		1–1	3–1	0–3	—

Source:

Group 6

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Bahrain	6	4	2	0	15	4	+11	14		—	2–1	4–0	5–0
Syria	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8		2–2	—	2–1	0–1
Tajikistan	6	2	1	3	5	9	−4	7		0–0	0–1	—	2–1
Kyrgyzstan	6	1	1	4	5	12	−7	4		1–2	1–1	1–2	—

Source:

Group 7

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	6	4	2	0	9	2	+7	14		—	2–0	2–0	2–0
Lebanon	6	3	2	1	11	5	+6	11		1–1	—	0–0	3–0
Vietnam	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	4		1–2	0–2	—	4–0
Maldives	6	1	1	4	5	14	−9	4		0–0	2–5	3–0	—

Source:

Group 8

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	6	6	0	0	14	1	+13	18		—	3–0	3–0	3–0
Turkmenistan	6	2	1	3	8	10	−2	7		0–1	—	3–1	2–0
Indonesia	6	2	1	3	8	12	−4	7		1–3	3–1	—	1–0
Sri Lanka	6	0	2	4	4	11	−7	2		0–1	2–2	2–2	—

Source:

In the third round, the 8 teams who won their groups in the earlier round were split into two groups of four teams each. Teams played home-and-away games with the other teams in their group, and the top two teams qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, the third-placed teams entered a play-off to determine who would contest the AFC–CONCACAF play-off.

Group 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	6	4	2	0	10	1	+9	14		—	2–0	3–0	3–0
South Korea	6	3	1	2	9	5	+4	10		0–1	—	2–1	2–0
Uzbekistan	6	1	2	3	7	11	−4	5		1–1	1–1	—	3–2
Kuwait	6	1	1	4	4	13	−9	4		0–0	0–4	2–1	—

Source:

• Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
• Uzbekistan advanced to the AFC playoffs.

Group 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Japan	6	5	0	1	9	4	+5	15		—	2–1	1–0	2–1
Iran	6	4	1	1	7	3	+4	13		2–1	—	1–0	1–0
Bahrain	6	1	1	4	4	7	−3	4		0–1	0–0	—	2–3
North Korea	6	1	0	5	5	11	−6	3		0–2	0–2	1–2	—

Source:

• Japan and Iran qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
• Bahrain advanced to the AFC playoffs.

Teams finishing 3rd in the third round groups played each other to determine a possible 5th qualifier from Asia. The first leg was originally played on 3 September 2005 but the match was ordered to be replayed by FIFA after a refereeing mistake. With Uzbekistan leading the tie 1–0, a penalty was awarded to them but the referee disallowed the resulting goal and offered an indirect freekick to Bahrain for encroachment. Uzbekistan had formally requested for the match to be recorded as an automatic 3–0 victory.[1]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Uzbekistan	1–1 (a)	Bahrain	1–1	0–0

Bahrain advanced to the AFC–CONCACAF play-off on the away goals rule.

The Fourth Round winner then played the fourth-placed team of the CONCACAF qualifying group, Trinidad and Tobago, in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Trinidad and Tobago	2–1	Bahrain	1–1	1–0

The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Saudi Arabia	Third Round Group 1 winners	8 June 2005	3 (1994, 1998, 2002)
Japan	Third Round Group 2 winners	8 June 2005	2 (1998, 2002)
South Korea	Third Round Group 1 runners-up	8 June 2005	6 (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)
Iran	Third Round Group 2 runners-up	8 June 2005	2 (1978, 1998)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

9 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• Results