AFC announces draw procedure

On 23 March 2011, the AFC announced its draw procedure for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The AFC has been alloted 4.5 places at the next world cup.

43 of AFC's 46 members have signed up for the qualifiers with only Bhutan, Guam, and the suspended Brunei missing out.

The top five seeds have been given byes into the third round.

1. Japan

2. South Korea

3. Australia

4. North Korea

5. Bahrain

Teams seeded 6-27 were given byes into the second round but were placed into two separate pots for that draw.

Pot A

6. Saudi Arabia

7. Iran

8. Qatar

9. Uzbekistan

10. United Arab Emirates

11. Syria

12. Oman

13. Jordan

14. Iraq

15. Singapore

16. China

17. Kuwait

18. Thailand

19. Turkmenistan

20. Lebanon

Pot B

21. Yemen

22. Tajikistan

23. Hong Kong

24. Indonesia

25. Kyrgyzstan

26. Maldives

27. India

Pot B will also contain eight places allocated to the winners of the first round matchups.

The lowest 16 seeds were drawn into first round matches after being split into two pots.

Pot C

28. Malaysia

29. Afghanistan

30. Cambodia

31. Nepal

32. Bangladesh

33. Sri Lanka

34. Vietnam

35. Mongolia

Pot D

36. Pakistan

37. Palestine

38. Timor-Leste

39. Macau

40. Taiwan

40. Myanmar

42. Philippines

42. Laos

The eight first round home-and-away knockout series winners will join twenty-two teams given byes into the second round for another home-and-away knockout series. The fifteen second-round survivors advance into the third round and join the top five seeds.

These twenty teams will be drawn into five groups of four teams. All teams within a group will play each other home and away. The top two teams in each third round group advance to the fourth round.

The fourth round consists of two groups of five teams each. All teams within a group will play each other home and away. The top two teams in each fourth round group advance to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil.

The two third place teams in fourth round will advance to the AFC home-and-away playoff series. The winner of the AFC playoff series advances to an inter-confederation knockout series against a team from a yet-to-be-determined confederation. The winner of this inter-confederation series will advance to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil.