Qatar, Saudi Arabia to Host AFC World Cup Playoffs 2025

Post by : Bianca Suleiman

Photo: AP

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has officially announced that Qatar and Saudi Arabia will host the important playoff matches for the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification. These matches are part of the AFC’s “Road to 26” campaign.

The playoff games will happen between 8th and 14th October 2025, and they will be played in a centralised format, which means all games will take place in Qatar and Saudi Arabia instead of home-and-away matches.

A total of six national football teams will take part in these playoff matches. These teams are:

• United Arab Emirates (UAE)

• Qatar

• Saudi Arabia

• Oman

• Iraq

• Indonesia

These six teams finished third and fourth in their groups during the earlier round of World Cup qualification.

The six teams will be divided into two groups of three teams. Each group will play matches against each other. The winner of each group will directly earn a spot in the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The second-place teams in both groups will not be out of the race. They will get another chance. These two teams will play each other in a two-legged match, one game on 13th November 2025 and the second on 18th November 2025. The winner of these two matches will then go to the intercontinental playoffs, which gives one more chance to enter the World Cup.

The official draw to decide which teams go into which group will be held on 17th July 2025.

This is a big moment for Asian football, as only a few teams can go forward to the biggest football tournament in the world — the FIFA World Cup 2026.