2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification
The 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification is the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, the 18th edition of the international men's football championship of Asia. Since 2019, the Asian Cup final tournament is contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015.[1]
Tournament details | |
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Dates | 6 June 2019 – TBD 2022 |
Teams | 46 (from 1 confederation) |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 107 |
Goals scored | 313 (2.93 per match) |
Attendance | 1,611,133 (15,057 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | |
Qualification for championships (AFC) |
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The qualification process involves four rounds, where the first two rounds double as the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams. The first two rounds also act as qualifiers for the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup as the six teams which are eliminated from the first round of the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup joint qualifiers and the four teams which are eliminated from the play-off round of the Asian Cup qualifiers will qualify for that.[2]
Format
The qualification structure is as follows:[3]
- First round: 12 teams (ranked 35–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advance to the second round.
- Second round: 40 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 will advance to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification as well as qualify for the AFC Asian Cup.
- 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) will advance directly to the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
- The remaining 12 teams will enter the play-off round to contest the remaining eight spots in the third round of Asian Cup qualification.
- Play-off round: There are two rounds of home-and-away two-legged play-off matches that will determine the final eight qualifiers for the third round.
- Third round: The 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches, and they will compete for the remaining slots of the Asian Cup.
Entrants
The 46 FIFA-affiliated nations from the AFC entered qualification, with the April 2019 FIFA World Rankings used to determine which nations would compete in the first round and which nations would receive a bye through to the second round. For seeding in the second round and third round draws, the most recent FIFA Rankings prior to those draws are expected to be used.
Due to the joint format of the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers, both Qatar (as the host nation of the 2022 World Cup) and China (as the host nation of the 2023 Asian Cup) will also enter the second round of Asian Cup qualifiers.[4]
The following restrictions will be applied:
- Northern Mariana Islands, which is not a FIFA member, are ineligible to enter.
- Timor-Leste was barred from participating in the Asian Cup qualification after being found to have fielded a total of 12 ineligible players in 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches, among other competitions.[5] However, as FIFA did not bar them from the World Cup qualifiers, Timor-Leste was allowed to enter the competition, but was ineligible to qualify for the Asian Cup.
Bye to the second round (Ranked 1st to 34th) |
Competing in first round (Ranked 35th to 46th) |
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Schedule
The schedule of the competition is expected to be as follows:[7][8][9][10]
On 9 March 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that the second round matches on matchdays 7–10 due to take place in March and June 2020 were postponed to later dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the new dates to be confirmed. However, subject to approval by FIFA and AFC, and agreement of both member associations, the matches may be played as scheduled provided that the safety of all individuals involved meets the required standards.[11][12] On 5 June 2020, AFC confirmed that Matchdays 7 and 8 were scheduled to take place on 8 and 13 October respectively while Matchdays 9 and 10 were scheduled to kick off on 12 and 17 November.[13] On 12 August 2020, AFC announced that the upcoming qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup, originally scheduled to take place during the international match windows in October and November 2020, will be rescheduled to 2021.[14][15]
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First round
The draw for the first round took place on 17 April 2019 at 11:00 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[16]
The six teams eliminated from this round progressed to the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup.
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mongolia |
3–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | |
Macau |
1–3[note 1] | 1–0 | 0–3 (awd.) | |
Laos |
0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | |
Malaysia |
12–2 | 7–1 | 5–1 | |
Cambodia |
4–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | |
Bhutan |
1–5 | 1–0 | 0–5 |
Second round
The draw for the second round was held on 17 July 2019 at 17:00 MST (UTC+8), at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[20]
The seeding is based on the FIFA World Rankings of June 2019 (shown in parentheses below).[21]
Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
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Pot 4 | Pot 5 | |
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Groups
Group A
China has already qualified for the AFC Asian Cup as hosts. Participation in this round is for the parallel FIFA World Cup qualification.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 | +10 | 15 | Third round and Asian Cup | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | ||
2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 7 | Third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | TBD | — | TBD | TBD | 7–0 | ||
3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 7 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | 2–5 | 0–0 | — | TBD | TBD | ||
4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 6 | Asian Cup qualifying third round or play-off round[lower-alpha 2] | TBD | 0–5 | 1–2 | — | 3–1 | ||
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 19 | −17 | 0 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | TBD | TBD | 1–4 | 0–1 | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(Z) Eliminated from the World Cup.
Notes:
- The four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup. The remaining four runners-up will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round
- The four best fourth-placed teams across all groups will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The remaining four fourth-placed teams will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
Group B
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 | +15 | 12 | Third round and Asian Cup | — | TBD | TBD | 5–0 | TBD | ||
2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 3 | +14 | 10 | Third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | 0–3 | — | TBD | 7–0 | 9–0 | ||
3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 10 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | 0–1 | 0–0 | — | 3–0 | 5–0 | ||
4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 16 | −14 | 3 | Asian Cup qualifying third round or play-off round[lower-alpha 2] | TBD | 0–1 | TBD | — | TBD | ||
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 25 | −23 | 0 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | 1–7 | TBD | 1–2 | 0–2 | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(Y) Cannot win group, may still advance as group runner-up; (Z) Eliminated from the World Cup.
Notes:
- The four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup. The remaining four runners-up will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round
- The four best fourth-placed teams across all groups will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The remaining four fourth-placed teams will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
Group C
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 11 | Third round and Asian Cup | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | TBD | ||
2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 9 | Third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | TBD | TBD | ||
3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 3 | +14 | 6 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | TBD | TBD | — | TBD | 14–0 | ||
4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 5 | Asian Cup qualifying third round or play-off round[lower-alpha 2] | TBD | 0–0 | 0–2 | — | 2–0 | ||
5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 22 | −21 | 1 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | 0–4 | 0–1 | TBD | 1–1 | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(Y) Cannot win group, may still advance as group runner-up.
Notes:
- The four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup. The remaining four runners-up will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round
- The four best fourth-placed teams across all groups will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The remaining four fourth-placed teams will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
Group D
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 9 | Third round and Asian Cup | — | 2–3 | TBD | 5–0 | 2–0 | ||
2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 8 | Third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | TBD | — | 3–0 | TBD | TBD | ||
3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 7 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | 1–3 | TBD | — | 2–2 | 2–1 | ||
4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 5 | Asian Cup qualifying third round or play-off round[lower-alpha 2] | TBD | 2–2 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | ||
5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 4 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | 2–0 | 0–0 | TBD | TBD | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Notes:
- The four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup. The remaining four runners-up will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round
- The four best fourth-placed teams across all groups will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The remaining four fourth-placed teams will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
Group E
Qatar has already qualified for the World Cup as hosts. Participation in this round is for the parallel Asian Cup qualification.[22]
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | +10 | 13 | Third round and Asian Cup | — | 2–1 | 6–0 | 0–0 | TBD | ||
2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 12 | Third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | TBD | — | 3–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | ||
3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 4 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | 0–1 | TBD | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | ||
4 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | Asian Cup qualifying third round or play-off round[lower-alpha 2] | TBD | 1–2 | TBD | — | 1–1 | ||
5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 1 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | 0–2 | TBD | TBD | TBD | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(Y) Cannot win group, may still advance as group runner-up.
Notes:
- The four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup. The remaining four runners-up will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round
- The four best fourth-placed teams across all groups will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The remaining four fourth-placed teams will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
Group F
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | +13 | 12 | Third round and Asian Cup | — | TBD | TBD | TBD | 6–0 | ||
2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 7 | Third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | 0–2 | — | 1–1 | 7–0 | TBD | ||
3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 7 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | 0–3 | 1–0 | — | TBD | TBD | ||
4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 6 | Asian Cup qualifying third round or play-off round[lower-alpha 2] | 0–2 | TBD | 4–3 | — | 1–0 | ||
5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 3 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | TBD | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Notes:
- The four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup. The remaining four runners-up will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round
- The four best fourth-placed teams across all groups will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The remaining four fourth-placed teams will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
Group G
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 11 | Third round and Asian Cup | — | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | TBD | ||
2 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 9 | Third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | TBD | — | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | ||
3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 8 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | 0–0 | TBD | — | 2–1 | TBD | ||
4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 6 | Asian Cup qualifying third round or play-off round[lower-alpha 2] | TBD | TBD | TBD | — | 5–0 | ||
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 16 | −13 | 0 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | 1–3 | 2–3 | 0–3 | TBD | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(Z) Eliminated from the World Cup.
Notes:
- The four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup. The remaining four runners-up will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round
- The four best fourth-placed teams across all groups will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The remaining four fourth-placed teams will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
Group H
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 9 | Third round and Asian Cup | — | 0–2 | TBD | 3–1 | 2–0 | ||
2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | +10 | 8 | Third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | TBD | — | TBD | TBD | 8–0 | ||
3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 8 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | 2–1 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | TBD | ||
4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 8 | Asian Cup qualifying third round or play-off round[lower-alpha 2] | TBD | 0–0 | 2–0 | — | TBD | ||
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 16 | −16 | 0 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | 0–2 | TBD | 0–3 | 0–1 | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(Z) Eliminated from the World Cup.
Notes:
- The four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup. The remaining four runners-up will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round
- The four best fourth-placed teams across all groups will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The remaining four fourth-placed teams will advance to the Asian Cup qualifying play-off round.
Ranking of runner-up teams
Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | E | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 12 | World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup | |
2 | B | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 3 | +14 | 10 | ||
3 | G | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 9 | ||
4 | C | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 9 | ||
5 | H | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | +10 | 8 | World Cup qualifying third round and Asian Cup or Asian Cup qualifying third round[lower-alpha 1] | |
6 | D | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 8 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | |
7 | A | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 7 | ||
8 | F | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 7 |
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:
- Should Qatar win Group E or be among the four best runners-up, they will advance to 2023 AFC Asian Cup only. The fifth best runner-up will take Qatar's place in the World Cup qualifying third round.[22]
Ranking of fourth-placed teams
Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | H | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 8 | Asian Cup qualifying third round | |
2 | G | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 6 | ||
3 | A | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 6 | ||
4 | F | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 6 | ||
5 | C | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 5 | Asian Cup qualifying play-off round | |
6 | D | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 5 | ||
7 | E | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | ||
8 | B | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 16 | −14 | 3 |
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Play-off round
A total of eight slots for the third round will be available from this round (four from round 1, four from round 2). The four teams eliminated from this stage will progress to the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup.
Third round
A total of 24 teams will compete in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. The number of remaining Asian Cup final slots available for the third round of the qualifiers will differ according to the following: If the 2023 hosts China advance to the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the automatic slot for the hosts will no longer be necessary, and a total of 12 slots for the Asian Cup will be available from this round. However, if they do not advance, a total of 11 slots will be available, as the hosts qualify automatically for the Asian Cup.
Qualified teams
The following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament.
Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in AFC Asian Cup1 |
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Hosts | 4 June 2019 | 12 (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) |
Notes:
- 1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
Goalscorers
There have been 313 goals scored in 107 matches, for an average of 2.93 goals per match (as of 19 November 2019). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
Notes
- Macau did not send their team for the second leg due to safety reasons following the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings.[17] The AFC referred the matter to FIFA,[18] and FIFA announced on 27 June 2019 that the match was declared a 3–0 forfeit victory to Sri Lanka, and consequently qualifying Sri Lanka to the second round.[19]
References
- "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". AFC. 16 April 2014. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015.
- "Uzbekistan, Bahrain recommended as hosts for 2020 AFC U-19 & U-16 Championships". AFC. 17 September 2019.
- "Pakistan to learn World Cup, Asian Cup qualifying fate on April 17". Dawn.com. 22 March 2019.
- Palmer, Dan (31 July 2017). "Hosts Qatar to compete in qualifying for 2022 World Cup". insidethegames.biz.
- "Federação Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". AFC. 20 January 2017.
- "FIFA Men's Ranking – April 2019 (AFC)". FIFA.com. 4 April 2019.
- "AFC Competitions Calendar 2019" (PDF). AFC. 21 March 2019.
- "AFC Competitions Calendar 2020" (PDF). AFC. 15 May 2019.
- "AFC Competitions Calendar 2021" (PDF). AFC. 21 March 2019.
- "AFC Competitions Calendar 2022" (PDF). AFC. 21 March 2019.
- "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers". FIFA.com. 9 March 2020.
- "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers". AFC. 9 March 2020.
- "AFC announces proposed dates for upcoming Asian Qualifiers". Asian Football Confederation. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
- "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Asia". FIFA. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Asia". AFC. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- "Asia's 2022 World Cup qualifiers drawn, features continent's lowest ranked national teams". India Today. 17 April 2019.
- "Football - Macau not sending team to Sri Lanka due to security concerns". Reuters. 8 June 2019.
- "AFC Statement". AFC. 10 June 2019.
- "FIFA Disciplinary Committee sanctions Macau Football Association". FIFA.com. 27 June 2019.
- "Asian Qualifiers draw to provide pathway to Qatar and China". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 17 June 2019.
- "FIFA Men's Ranking – June 2019 (AFC)". FIFA.com. 14 June 2019.
- "Groups finalised for Qatar 2022 & China 2023 race". The-AFC.com. 17 July 2019.
External links
- AFC Asian Cup, the-AFC.com
- Preliminary Joint Qualification 2022, stats.the-AFC.com