Six Asian Teams Qualify for 2026 World Cup, Japan Leads the Way

Six Asian teams have secured their places at the 2026 World Cup — Japan, South Korea, Iran, Australia qualified alongside newcomers Uzbekistan and Jordan.

While these six teams can focus on preparing for next year’s tournament, six other teams will battle in the final qualifying round:

• United Arab Emirates
• Qatar
• Iraq
• Oman
• Saudi Arabia
• Indonesia

Hajime Moriyasu and Japan’s national team dominated throughout qualification — suffering only one loss to Australia when fielding a rotated squad. With key players in their prime, the Samurai Blue are considered Asia’s greatest hope.

Mehdi Taremi emerged as the most impressive player in the third qualifying phase with nine goal contributions for Iran. Meanwhile, Japan’s striker Ayase Ueda continues to improve at Feyenoord and managed to score eight goals during qualification.

Saudi Arabia proved most disappointing — scoring just seven goals in ten matches under Roberto Mancini who was later replaced by Hervé Renard. Qatar also performed below expectations despite being two-time Asian champions.