Asia’s hopeful dozen learn final world cup qualifying opponents

Group A: A1 Iran - A2 Korea Republic - A3 Uzbekistan - A4 China - A5 Qatar - A6 Syria

Group B: B1 Australia - B2 Japan - B3 Saudi Arabia - B4 United Arab Emirates - B5 Iraq - B6 Thailand

Match Schedule

Matchday 1: September 1, 2016 = 1 vs 5, 2 vs 4 and 3 vs 6
Matchday 2: September 6, 2016 = 5 vs 3, 6 vs 2 and 4 vs 1
Matchday 3: October 6, 2016 = 3 vs 1, 4 vs 6 and 2 vs 5
Matchday 4: October 11, 2016 = 5 vs 6, 3 vs 4 and 1 vs 2
Matchday 5: November 15, 2016 = 4 vs 5, 6 vs 1 and 2 vs 3
Matchday 6: March 23, 2017 = 5 vs 1, 4 vs 2 and 6 vs 3
Matchday 7: March 28, 2017 = 3 vs 5, 2 vs 6 and 1 vs 4
Matchday 8: June 13, 2017 = 1 vs 3, 6 vs 4 and 5 vs 2
Matchday 9: August 31, 2017 = 6 vs 5, 4 vs 3 and 2 vs 1
Matchday 10: September 5, 2017 = 5 vs 4, 1 vs 6 and 3 vs 2

The winner and runner-up of each group (four teams in total) will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia finals while the third-placed teams of each group (two teams in total) will advance to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Asian Play-off Round.

The winner of the Asian Play-off Round (one team in total) will take on the side that finishes fourth in the fifth round of the CONCACAF qualifiers in a two-legged inter-confederation play-off.