2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for Asia. 44 Asian teams are affiliated with FIFA, but Cambodia, Philippines, Bhutan and Brunei decided not to take part, and Myanmar was banned from the competition (for refusing to play a qualifier in Iran during 2002 qualifying), so a total of 39 teams took part, competing for 4.5 places in the World Cup. Format The qualification was composed of three rounds. Only the 14 last ranked teams according to FIFA took part in the Preliminary Round, where they were paired 2-by-2 and played home-and-away knock-out matches. The 7 winners joined the other 25 teams in the second round, where those 32 teams were divided in 8 groups of four teams each. The teams in each group would play against each other home-and-away, and the team with most points in each group would advance to the Third Round. In the third round, the 8 remaining teams were divided in two groups of 4 teams each, that would again play against each other in a home-and-away basis. The two teams with most points in each group would qualify to the World Cup. The two third placed teams would play-off against each other home-and-away. Winner of this play-off would play against the fourth placed team in the final round of CONCACAF in an intercontinental play-off for a place in the World Cup. First round 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. Laos advanced to the second round. 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 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8 Third round 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 Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Uzbekistan advanced to the AFC playoffs. Group 2 Japan and Iran qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Bahrain advanced to the AFC playoffs. Fourth round Teams finishing 3rd in the third round groups played each other to determine a possible 5th