The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have noted the decision of the Bureau for the FIFA World Cup™ Qualifiers on the final standings of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and the AFC Asian Cup China 2023™, following the withdrawal of DPR Korea on May 16, 2021.
As part of efforts to ensure fairness for all participating teams, it was decided that the results of all DPR Korea matches will be declared null and void.
Consequently, after the conclusion of all the matches in the Asian Qualifiers, the results of the matches between the second-placed and the fifth-placed teams in Groups A to G would not be counted to ensure a balanced final comparison between all group runners-up, and therefore, alleviating any possible imbalance between the seven qualifying groups caused by the sudden reduction of Group H to only four teams.
Once this levelling has been achieved, the four best runners-up would be determined in the following order:
- Greatest number of points obtained from the group matches.
- Goal difference in the group matches.
- Greater number of goals scored in the group matches.
- Fair play points system: fewer number of points calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received by the team in the group phase.
- Drawing of lots
The Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and the AFC Asian Cup China 2023™ will resume today, 28 May 2021, with 57 matches taking place over 19 days and the final matchday scheduled for June 15. – www.the-afc.com
