2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup qualification

2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup qualification

Tournament details
Host countries	Thailand (Group A) Saudi Arabia (Group B) Kyrgyzstan (Group C) Mongolia (Group D) Tajikistan (Group E) Bahrain (Group F) Uzbekistan (Group G) Chinese Taipei (Group H)
Dates	7–13 October 2023
Teams	30 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	43
Goals scored	303 (7.05 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Saeid Ahmadabbasi (8 goals)
← 2022 2026 →

The 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup qualification was the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the international men's futsal championship of Asia.

A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament in Thailand. The host country Thailand qualified automatically, while the other 15 teams were decided by qualification, with the matches played between 7–13 October 2023 in centralised venues.

This tournament also served as the first stage of Asian qualification for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup, where five teams from the Futsal Asian Cup qualify directly for the World Cup (plus hosts Uzbekistan).

The AFC Executive Committee had approved several strategic recommendations put forward by the AFC Competitions Committee, one of which was the removal of zoning principles in the AFC's Futsal and Beach Soccer competitions.^[1]

The 46 AFC member associations were eligible to enter the qualification after Sri Lanka was barred from participating in international competitions due to FIFA suspension before the draw.^[2][3] The Northern Mariana Islands, whose association are not FIFA members, were not be eligible to qualify for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

Only 30 teams including China, India and Macau who did not participate in the previous edition, entered the competition. Thailand automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts, but decided to also participate in the qualifying competition. 17 teams including Turkmenistan who withdrew after the draw plus Oman and United Arab Emirates who did participate in the previous edition, did not enter to the qualification and were listed below. The following teams with asterisks are the teams never entered the qualification.

The draw was held on 22 June 2023 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[4]

31 teams including Turkmenistan who withdrew after the draw and Thailand who automatically qualified as hosts after the draw, were seeded into four pots based on the their performance at the qualification and the final tournament of the previous edition.^[5] The eight hosts of the qualification including Indonesia who withdrew the hosts after the draw, were placed into the host pots.

Teams who participated in the final tournament of the previous edition were ranked from the 1st to the 15th by their performance at that tournament and other teams who participated in the qualification of the previous edition were ranked from the 16th to 27th by their performance at that tournament. China, India and Macau who did not participate in the previous edition, were unranked.

Final rankings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final results
1	Japan	6	5	0	1	17	7	+10	15	Champions
2	Iran	6	5	0	1	39	5	+34	15	Runners-up
3	Uzbekistan	6	5	0	1	29	7	+22	15	Third place
4	Thailand	6	3	1	2	16	20	−4	10	Fourth place
5	Tajikistan	4	2	0	2	16	14	+2	6	Eliminated in quarter-finals[a]
6	Indonesia	4	2	0	2	13	11	+2	6
7	Kuwait	4	1	2	1	11	9	+2	5
8	Vietnam	4	2	0	2	9	12	−3	6
9	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6	Eliminated in group stage[b]
10	Iraq	3	1	1	1	9	5	+4	4
11	Bahrain	3	0	1	2	8	14	−6	1
12	Chinese Taipei	3	0	1	2	3	15	−12	1
13	Turkmenistan	3	0	1	2	9	20	−11	1
14	Lebanon	3	0	1	2	3	17	−14	1
15	South Korea	3	0	0	3	1	15	−14	0
16	Oman	3	0	0	3	3	18	−15	0

Qualification rankings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification results
1	Japan	4	4	0	0	42	3	+39	12	Qualify for final tournament[c]
2	Iran	3	3	0	0	28	1	+27	9
3	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	15	4	+11	9
4	Thailand	6	4	2	0	40	7	+33	14
5	Iraq	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4
6	Lebanon	3	2	1	0	11	7	+4	7
7	Indonesia	6	4	2	0	38	8	+30	14
8	Vietnam	5	2	2	1	15	7	+8	8
9	Bahrain	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4
10	Saudi Arabia	3	1	2	0	10	9	+1	5
11	Turkmenistan	3	2	0	1	10	4	+6	6
12	Tajikistan	3	1	1	1	17	10	+7	4
13	South Korea	4	2	1	1	11	12	−1	7
14	Oman	4	1	2	1	9	8	+1	5
15	Chinese Taipei	4	2	0	2	13	14	−1	6
16	Myanmar	5	2	2	1	19	12	+7	8	Eliminated in qualification[c]
17	Afghanistan	3	1	1	1	13	10	+3	4
18	United Arab Emirates	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0
19	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	0	2	9	12	−3	3
20	Malaysia	4	2	0	2	20	15	+5	6
21	Australia	3	1	0	2	9	15	−6	3
22	Palestine	3	0	1	2	8	12	−4	1
23	Hong Kong	4	0	2	2	6	17	−11	2
24	East Timor	3	0	0	3	8	24	−16	0
25	Nepal	3	0	0	3	3	24	−21	0
26	Cambodia	4	0	1	3	10	36	−26	1
27	Maldives	3	0	0	3	1	31	−30	0
28	Mongolia	4	0	1	3	2	28	−26	1
29	Brunei	4	0	1	3	2	37	−35	1

The 31 teams including Turkmenistan who withdrew after the draw and Thailand who automatically qualified as hosts after the draw, were drawn into six groups of four teams and two groups of three teams.

	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Host teams	Uzbekistan (H)  Thailand (H, Q)  Indonesia  Tajikistan (H)	Bahrain (H)  Chinese Taipei (H)	Kyrgyzstan (H)	Mongolia (H)
Remaining teams	Japan  Iran  Kuwait  Vietnam	Saudi Arabia (H)  Iraq  Turkmenistan (W)  Lebanon  South Korea  Myanmar	Afghanistan  Malaysia  Australia  Palestine  Hong Kong  East Timor    Nepal	Cambodia  Maldives  Brunei  China  India  Macau

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
• (H): Qualification group hosts.
• (Q): Final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results.
• (W): Withdrew after the draw.

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:^[7]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they are playing each other in the last round of the group;
8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = −1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = −3 points, direct red card = −3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = −4 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

Thailand already qualified to the final tournament as host country, so their matches were not taken into account when calculating the group ranking. Then, Turkmenistan withdrew after the draw. Since only two teams were competing, a total of two games were played between China and Hong Kong.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China	2	2	0	0	11	2	+9	6	Qualify for the final tournament
2	Hong Kong	2	0	0	2	2	11	−9	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Afghanistan	3	2	1	0	28	11	+17	7	Qualify for the final tournament
2	Saudi Arabia (H)	3	2	0	1	14	5	+9	6
3	Indonesia	3	1	1	1	21	10	+11	4
4	Macau	3	0	0	3	2	39	−37	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	3	0	0	34	4	+30	9	Qualify for the final tournament
2	Kyrgyzstan (H)	3	2	0	1	15	17	−2	6
3	Lebanon	3	1	0	2	10	12	−2	3
4	Maldives	3	0	0	3	6	32	−26	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vietnam	3	3	0	0	16	3	+13	9	Qualify for the final tournament
2	South Korea	3	2	0	1	13	7	+6	6
3	Nepal	3	0	1	2	2	11	−9	1
4	Mongolia (H)	3	0	1	2	3	13	−10	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tajikistan (H)	3	3	0	0	15	4	+11	9	Qualify for the final tournament
2	Myanmar	3	2	0	1	7	6	+1	6
3	Palestine	3	1	0	2	8	13	−5	3
4	India	3	0	0	3	10	17	−7	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kuwait	3	3	0	0	17	6	+11	9	Qualify for the final tournament
2	Bahrain (H)	3	2	0	1	10	6	+4	6
3	East Timor	3	1	0	2	9	9	0	3
4	Brunei	3	0	0	3	3	18	−15	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan (H)	3	3	0	0	13	5	+8	9	Qualify for the final tournament
2	Iraq	3	2	0	1	10	4	+6	6
3	Malaysia	3	1	0	2	9	8	+1	3
4	Cambodia	3	0	0	3	3	18	−15	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	2	2	0	0	7	0	+7	6	Qualify for the final tournament
2	Australia	2	1	0	1	3	6	−3	3
3	Chinese Taipei (H)	2	0	0	2	2	6	−4	0

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The seven best second-placed teams from the eight groups advanced to the final tournament along with the eight group winners. Due to fewer matches in groups A and H, results against the fourth-placed teams of each group C to G were not counted in determining the ranking of the second-placed teams.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	D	South Korea	2	1	0	1	7	6	+1	3	Qualify for the final tournament
2	B	Saudi Arabia	2	1	0	1	5	5	0	3
3	F	Bahrain	2	1	0	1	4	5	−1	3
4	G	Iraq	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1	3
5	E	Myanmar	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	3
6	H	Australia	2	1	0	1	3	6	−3	3
7	C	Kyrgyzstan	2	1	0	1	7	14	−7	3
8	A	Hong Kong	2	0	0	2	2	11	−9	0

There have been 303 goals scored in 43 matches, for an average of 7.05 goals per match.

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

The team rankings will be used for seeding in the qualification draw and the final draw of the next edition for non-qualified teams.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification results
1	Iran	3	3	0	0	34	4	+30	9	Qualify for final tournament[a]
2	Kuwait	3	3	0	0	17	6	+11	9
3	China	2	2	0	0	11	2	+9	6
4	Vietnam	3	3	0	0	16	3	+13	9
5	Tajikistan	3	3	0	0	15	4	+11	9
6	Japan	2	2	0	0	7	0	+7	6
7	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	13	5	+8	9
8	Afghanistan	3	2	1	0	28	11	+17	7
9	South Korea	3	2	0	1	13	7	+6	6
10	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	14	5	+9	6
11	Bahrain	3	2	0	1	10	6	+4	6
12	Iraq	3	2	0	1	10	4	+6	6
13	Myanmar	3	2	0	1	7	6	+1	6
14	Australia	2	1	0	1	3	6	−3	3
15	Kyrgyzstan	3	2	0	1	15	17	−2	6
16	Hong Kong	2	0	0	2	2	11	−9	0	Eliminated in qualification[a]
17	Indonesia	3	1	1	1	21	10	+11	4
18	Malaysia	3	1	0	2	9	8	+1	3
19	Chinese Taipei	2	0	0	2	2	6	−4	0
20	Palestine	3	1	0	2	8	13	−5	3
21	Lebanon	3	1	0	2	10	12	−2	3
22	East Timor	3	1	0	2	9	9	0	3
23	Nepal	3	0	1	2	2	11	−9	1
24	Mongolia	3	0	1	2	3	13	−10	1
25	India	3	0	0	3	10	17	−7	0
26	Brunei	3	0	0	3	3	18	−15	0
27	Cambodia	3	0	0	3	3	18	−15	0
28	Maldives	3	0	0	3	6	32	−26	0
29	Macau	3	0	0	3	2	39	−37	0

Of the 16 teams qualified, 11 teams were returning after appearing in the 2022 edition.

Afghanistan were the only debutant in the final tournament, while Australia marked their return for the first time in 8 years. China, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar also qualified for the first time in 6 years. Japan, Iran, Thailand and Uzbekistan were the only four teams to qualify for every edition.

Three nations from the previous edition failed to qualify (Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Lebanon) and other two nations from the previous edition did not enter to qualifiers (Oman and Turkmenistan).

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearances	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Thailand	Hosts	5 September 2023	17th	2022	Runners-up (2008, 2012)
China	Group A winners	13 October 2023	13th	2018	Fourth place (2008, 2010)
Afghanistan	Group B winners	11 October 2023	1st	Debut	None
Saudi Arabia	Group B runners-up	11 October 2023	3rd	2022	Group stage (2016, 2022)
Iran	Group C winners	11 October 2023	17th	2022	Champions (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2016, 2018)
Kyrgyzstan	Group C runners-up	11 October 2023	16th	2018	Fourth place (2006, 2007), Semi-finals (2005)
Vietnam	Group D winners	9 October 2023	7th	2022	Fourth place (2016)
South Korea	Group D runners-up	9 October 2023	15th	2022	Runners-up (1999)
Tajikistan	Group E winners	9 October 2023	12th	2022	Quarter-finals (2007, 2022)
Myanmar	Group E runners-up	9 October 2023	2nd	2018	Group stage (2018)
Kuwait	Group F winners	9 October 2023	13th	2022	Fourth place (2003, 2014)
Bahrain	Group F runners-up	9 October 2023	4th	2022	Quarter-finals (2018)
Uzbekistan	Group G winners	9 October 2023	17th	2022	Runners-up (2001, 2006, 2010, 2016)
Iraq	Group G runners-up	9 October 2023	13th	2022	Fourth place (2018)
Japan	Group H winners	11 October 2023	17th	2022	Champions (2006, 2012, 2014, 2022)
Australia	Group H runners-up	11 October 2023	8th	2016	Fourth place (2012)

• 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup Fixtures & Standings, the-AFC.com