All Arab teams except Jordan suffered during the fourth round matches of the decisive third round in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup finals.
The Iraqi national team lost 2-3 to South Korea and fell to third place in the second group standings after its score froze at seven points on goal difference from Jordan, which advanced to second place after its broad victory over the Oman national team with a clean score, while South Korea leads the group with a score. 10 points.
Within the same group, the match between the Kuwaiti and Palestine teams was decided in a 2-2 tie.
The first group witnessed the UAE team losing 0-1 to Uzbekistan, and the Qatari team was also subjected to a heavy defeat at the hands of Iran with a score of 1-4.
As for the third group, Saudi Arabia fell into the trap of a goalless draw with its narrow draw against Bahrain, leaving the “Green” team with five points in third place in the group standings behind Japan, the leader, with ten points, and runner-up Australia (five points).
Saudi Arabia also failed to achieve victory in the third round, losing at home to Japan with two unanswered goals.
The following is the standings of the Asian qualifying groups for the 2026 World Cup after the end of the fourth round matches:
-The first group
1- Iran - 10 points
2- Uzbekistan - 10 points
3- UAE - 4 points
4- Qatar - 4 points
5- Kyrgyzstan - 3 points
6- North Korea - two points.
- The second group
1- South Korea - 10 points
2- Jordan - 7 points
3- Iraq - 7 points
4- Oman - 3 points
5- Kuwait - 3 points
6- Palestine - two points.
- The third group
1- Japan - 10 points
2- Australia - 5 points
3- Saudi Arabia - 5 points
4- Bahrain - 5 points
5- Indonesia - 3 points
6- China - 3 points
From the third round of the Asian qualifiers, 6 teams will qualify directly to the 2026 World Cup, and they are the teams that will obtain first and second places in the three groups, while the teams that obtain third and fourth places will qualify for the fourth round, which will witness competition between the six teams for two tickets. By dividing it into two groups, with three teams in each group, during which the two leaders will qualify for the World Cup, and as for the two teams in second place, they will meet in two back-and-forth matches to determine the Asian team that will compete in the continental playoff.