2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round

The second round of AFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification) was played from 24 May 2015 to 29 March 2016.

Format
A total of forty teams (teams ranked 1–34 in the AFC entrant list and six first round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up advanced to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification as well as qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals.

A total of 24 teams eliminated from World Cup qualification in the second round competed in the third round of 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification (which was separated from the third round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification), where they were divided into six groups of four teams and competed for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The 24 teams consisted of the sixteen highest ranked teams eliminated in the second round, and the eight teams that advanced from the play-off round of 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification which were contested by the remaining twelve teams eliminated in the second round.

Seeding
The draw for the second round was held on 14 April 2015, at 17:00 MST (UTC+8), at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of April 2015 (shown in parentheses below). The 40 teams were seeded into five pots:
 * Pot 1 contained the teams ranked 1–8.
 * Pot 2 contained the teams ranked 9–16.
 * Pot 3 contained the teams ranked 17–24.
 * Pot 4 contained the teams ranked 25–32.
 * Pot 5 contained the teams ranked 33–40.

Each group contained one team from each of the five pots. The fixtures of each group were automatically decided based on the respective pot of each team.

As the seeding order was based on the most recent FIFA Rankings prior to the draw, it differed from the order in the AFC entrant list, which was based on the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015. Among the six first round winners, three were seeded higher than pot 5 (India in pot 3, Timor-Leste and Bhutan in pot 4), on the basis of ranking points gained from the first round matches, while the other three (Yemen, Cambodia and Chinese Taipei) were seeded in pot 5.


 * Notes
 * Bolded teams qualified for the third round.
 * (D): Disqualified after draw

Ranking of runner-up teams
To determine the four best runner-up teams, the following criteria were used:
 * 1) Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
 * 2) Goal difference
 * 3) Goals scored
 * 4) Fair play points
 * 5) Drawing of lots

As a result of Indonesia being disqualified by FIFA suspension, Group F contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.

Ranking of fourth-placed teams
To determine the four best fourth-placed teams, the following criteria were used:
 * 1) Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
 * 2) Goal difference
 * 3) Goals scored
 * 4) Fair play points
 * 5) Drawing of lots

As a result of Indonesia being disqualified by FIFA suspension, Group F contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the fourth-placed teams.