FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers: Socceroos drawn in Group C with Japan and Saudi Arabia
A total of 18 teams were drawn into three groups of six each. China, Indonesia and Bahrain are also in Group C.
Football
The Australian men’s football team has been placed in Group C of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers third round starting in September this year.
The draw was conducted by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Thursday.
The third round of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers will feature 18 Asian teams divided into three groups (A–C) of six teams each.
The Socceroos, world No. 23, are the second-best side in Group C as per the FIFA Rankings behind 17th-ranked Japan. Saudi Arabia (56), Bahrain (81), the People’s Republic of China (88) and Indonesia (134) complete Group C.
Asian champions Qatar are in Group A with heavyweights Iran while the Republic of Korea is in Group B with AFC Asian Cup 2023 finalists Jordan.
FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers third round groups
- Group A: Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan
- Group B: South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Kuwait
- Group C: Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Indonesia and Bahrain.
Matches will be played on a home-and-away basis from September 2024 to June 2025, with the top two in each of the three groups qualifying for the World Cup directly.
The third and fourth-placed teams from each group - six in total - will progress to the fourth round of qualifiers while the remaining teams are eliminated.
As one of the higher-ranked teams in Asia, Australia’s qualifying campaign began in the second round of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers.
Australia topped their group with a perfect record of six wins. The Socceroos scored 22 goals in their campaign without conceding.
The Australian men's football team is looking to qualify for its seventh FIFA World Cup Finals, which will be jointly hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico in 2026.