2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round

The first round of AFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification) was played from 12 to 23 March 2015.[1]

Format

A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 35–46 in the AFC entrant list) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.

Seeding

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.[2]

The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015 (shown in parentheses below).[3][4] The 12 teams were seeded into two pots:

  • Pot A contained the teams ranked 1–6 (i.e., 35–40 in the AFC entrant list).
  • Pot B contained the teams ranked 7–12 (i.e., 41–46 in the AFC entrant list).

Each tie contained a team from Pot A and a team from Pot B, with the team from Pot A hosting the first leg.

Note: Bolded teams qualified for the second round.

Pot A Pot B
  1.  India (171)
  2.  Sri Lanka (172)
  3.  Yemen (176)
  4.  Cambodia (179)
  5.  Chinese Taipei (182)
  6.  Timor-Leste (185)
  1.    Nepal (186)
  2.  Macau (186)
  3.  Pakistan (188)
  4.  Mongolia (194)
  5.  Brunei (198)
  6.  Bhutan (209)

Summary
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
India  2–0    Nepal 2–0 0–0
Yemen  3–1  Pakistan 3–1 0–0
Timor-Leste  0–6[N 1]  Mongolia 0–3[N 1] 0–3[N 1]
Cambodia  4–1  Macau 3–0 1–1
Chinese Taipei  2–1  Brunei 0–1 2–0
Sri Lanka  1–3  Bhutan 0–1 1–2
Notes
  1. Timor-Leste won the first leg 4–1 and the second leg 1–0, thus winning 5–1 on aggregate and advancing to the Second Round. On 12 December 2017 FIFA awarded both matches 3–0 to Mongolia due to Timor-Leste fielding numerous ineligible players. However, this was long after the Second Round had been played so Timor-Leste advanced and Mongolia were not reinstated.

Matches
India 2–0   Nepal
 Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 11,200
Referee: Aziz Asimov (Uzbekistan)
Nepal   0–0 India
Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 10,500

India won 2–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Yemen 3–1 Pakistan
 Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 300

Yemen won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Timor-Leste 0–3
Awarded[12]		 Mongolia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 9,000
Mongolia 3–0
Awarded[12]		 Timor-Leste
Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Wang Di (China)

Timor-Leste won the first leg 4–1 and the second leg 1–0, thus winning 5–1 on aggregate and advancing to the Second Round. On 12 December 2017 FIFA awarded both matches 3–0 to Mongolia due to Timor-Leste fielding numerous ineligible players.[13] However, this was long after the Second Round had been played so Timor-Leste advanced and Mongolia were not reinstated.

Cambodia 3–0 Macau
 Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Ho Wai Sing (Hong Kong)
Macau 1–1 Cambodia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 1,000

Cambodia won 4–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Chinese Taipei 0–1 Brunei
Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 6,273

Chinese Taipei won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Sri Lanka 0–1 Bhutan
Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 3,500
Referee: Fu Ming (China)
Bhutan 2–1 Sri Lanka
 Report (FIFA)
Report (AFC)
Attendance: 15,000

Bhutan won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Goalscorers

There were 24 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match.

2 goals
1 goal

Notes
  1. Yemen played their home match in Doha, Qatar due to security concerns from the 2014–15 Yemeni coup d'état.[5]
  2. Pakistan was originally scheduled to play their home match on 17 March 2015 (15:00 UTC+5) at Punjab Stadium, Lahore,[6] but it was postponed due to safety and security reasons after the Lahore church bombings and civil unrest in the city.[7][8] The match was subsequently rescheduled to be played in Bahrain.[9][10][11]
  3. This player scored in one of the matches between Timor-Leste and Mongolia that were subsequently forfeited, but FIFA continues to count the goalscorers from those matches in its statistics.

References
  1. "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". AFC. 16 April 2014.
  2. "India v Nepal headlines 2018 World Cup, 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers draw". AFC. 10 February 2015.
  3. "Asian minnows begin World Cup mission". FIFA.com. 9 February 2015.
  4. "FIFA Men's Ranking – January 2015 (AFC)". FIFA.com. 8 January 2015.
  5. "Green-shirts resume camp ahead of major events". The News International (Pakistan). 13 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  6. "FIFA Match Report: Pakistan v Yemen". FIFA.com.
  7. "Qualifier match between Pakistan and Yemen postponed". FIFA. 16 March 2015.
  8. "Pakistan versus Yemen qualifier postponed due to safety concerns". AFC. 17 March 2015.
  9. "Pakistan 2018 FIFA World Cup tie switched from Lahore to Bahrain". IBN Live. Reuters. 18 March 2015. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  10. "Qualifying match between Pakistan and Yemen rescheduled". FIFA.com. 19 March 2015.
  11. "Pakistan versus Yemen qualifier rescheduled". AFC. 20 March 2015.
  12. "Federacao Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". The-AFC.com. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  13. "Latest decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee". FIFA.com. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
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