Saudi Arabia faces Japan and Australia in the World Cup qualifiers

Sudan Events – Agencies

The draw for the third round of Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup finals, which was held in Kuala Lumpur, resulted in Saudi Arabia being in the third group, which also includes Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia. In the first group, the Qatar national team competes with Iran, Uzbekistan, the Emirates, Kyrgyzstan, and North Korea, and the second group includes five Arab teams, namely, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, and South Korea.
Asia has eight direct seats in the next edition of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The top two from each group qualify directly to the finals, and the third and fourth-place finishers go into the Asian playoff, where six teams are divided into two groups, and the top two qualify for the World Cup. The second-place finishers in the two Asian play-off groups in order to determine a team that will compete in the global play-off and have a final chance to reach the finals.