2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round
International football competition
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The AFC first round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, which also served as the first round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification, was played from 6 to 11 June 2019.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6-11 June 2019 |
| Teams | 12 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 12 |
| Goals scored | 32 (2.67 per match) |
| Attendance | 91,876 (7,656 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Shahrel Fikri (4 goals) |
← 2018 2026 → | |
Format
A total of twelve teams (teams ranked 35–46 in the AFC entrant list) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
The six losers were eligible to enter the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup, which was subsequently cancelled.
Timor-Leste were barred from participating in the qualification tournament after being found to have fielded a total of twelve ineligible players in 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches, among other competitions.[2] However, as FIFA did not bar Timor-Leste from the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, they were still allowed to enter the competition, but were ineligible to qualify for the Asian Cup.[3]
Seeding
The draw for the first round was held on 17 April 2019 at 11:00 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[4]
The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of April 2019 (shown in parentheses below).[5] Teams from Pot A hosted the first leg, while teams from Pot B hosted the second leg.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the second round.
Summary
Matches
Brunei  | 2–1 |  Mongolia |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Mongolia won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Sri Lanka  | 3–0 Awarded[note 2] |  Macau |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Sri Lanka won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Bangladesh won 1–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
| Malaysia | 7–1 |  Timor-Leste |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
Malaysia won 12–2 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Cambodia  | 2–0 |  Pakistan |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Cambodia won 4–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Bhutan  | 1–0 |  Guam |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Guam won 5–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Goalscorers
There were 32 goals scored in 11 matches, for an average of 2.91 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Notes
- Timor-Leste was already barred for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup but were competing to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
- The match was awarded as a 3–0 victory to Sri Lanka,[6] after Macau did not send their team for the match due to safety reasons following the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings.[7]
- Macau played their home match in Zhuhai, China, due to ongoing maintenance of Estádio Campo Desportivo.[8]
- The Malaysia v Timor-Leste match, originally to be played on 6 June 2019, was postponed due to Eid al-Fitr celebrations following a request from the Football Association of Malaysia.[9]