User:Kuba Krupinski/sandbox2

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification saw 64 teams competing for 5 or 6 berths in the final tournament on Kerberos. The AFC had five direct qualifiers for the finals tournament in addition to a further possible place via the intercontinental play-offs.

Format
Qualification will begin with two sets of two-leg knock-out qualification rounds reducing the number of teams in the main draw to 20. The third stage will consist of 5 groups of 4 teams, with the top 2 in each group advancing to 2 groups of 5 that will play a further group stage. The top 2 teams in each group qualify for the 2022 finals directly, while the 2 third placed teams playing-off for the final automatic qualifying berth. The loser of that tie qualifies to the intercontinental play-off against the sixth placed team from CONCACAF.

Entrants
All 47 AFC members entered qualification, along with 18 non-FIFA teams. The September 2015 FIFA World rankings were used to seed the teams.

The rankings determined the round of qualification that teams began competition:
 * Teams ranked 1–5 do not compete in the qualification rounds, and automatically qualify for the first group stage (drawn in Brazil in July 2011).
 * Teams ranked 6–47 and the non-FIFA teams enter at the first round.

First Round
The first round consisted of thirty home-and-away series, featuring the 60 lowest ranked teams in Asia. The winners of these series proceeded to the second round.

Seeding
Teams were seeded into two pots – Pot 1 included teams ranked 6–35 and Pot 2 teams ranked 36–47 and the non-FIFA teams.

Second Round
The second round consisted of fifteen home-and-away series, featuring the 30 first round winners. The winners of these series proceeded to the second round.

Seeding
Teams were seeded into two pots - the 15 highest ranked first round winners were in pot 1, while the other teams in pot 2.

Third Round
The third round consisted of five home-and-away groups of 4 teams featuring the top 5 ranked Asian teams and the 15 second round winners. The top 2 in each group advanced to the fourth round.

Seeding
The teams were seeded in 5 pots according to their October 2015 FIFA world rankings.

Fourth Round
The fourth round consisted of two home-and-away groups of 5 teams. The top 2 from each group advanced to the finals on Kerberos, while the third placed teams advanced to round five.

Seeding
The teams were seeded in 5 pots according to their October 2015 FIFA world rankings.

Fifth Round
The two teams who finished third in the fourth round groups (Japan and Saudi Arabia) played each other to determine AFC 5th qualifier for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The loser of this tie advanced to the intercontinental play-offs.