Seed groups in the 4th qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup
Group 1: Qatar, Saudi Arabia
Group 2: Iraq, UAE
Group 3: Oman, Indonesia
According to the official announcement from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Qatar and Saudi Arabia will still be the hosts of the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup as originally planned. Previously, Indonesia strongly protested this decision but the AFC did not change.
Indonesia is at a big disadvantage in the 4th qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup (Photo: AFC).
Not only that, according to the seed grouping results from AFC, Indonesia is also in the 3rd seed group. On the new rankings announced by FIFA, the team from the archipelago is currently ranked 118th in the world . Although they have significantly improved their ranking, they have not been able to reach the top group in Asia.
Therefore, Indonesia is forced to accept being in the third seed group with Oman. Besides Indonesia, the remaining 5 teams are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE and Oman, all in the world top 80.
With Indonesia seeded in Pot 3, their opponents in the fourth round of World Cup qualifiers could be either the hosts from Pot 1, Qatar or Saudi Arabia, along with either Pot 2 Iraq or UAE.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia have home advantage at this stage (Photo: Getty).
In addition, playing in the time zone difference in the Middle East is also a disadvantage for Indonesia when all 5 remaining teams are in this region.
In the 4th qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, 6 teams are divided into 2 groups, each group only chooses the top team to win a direct ticket to the World Cup. The two second-placed teams will enter the 5th round to avoid tickets to the Intercontinental play-off.
The draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia will take place on July 17 in Malaysia. Matches in this stage will take place from September.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/indonesia-gap-bat-loi-cuc-lon-tren-hanh-trinh-san-ve-world-cup-20250712083016439.htm
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