The Round Two draw of the joint AFC Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the AFC Asian Cup 2027 was conducted in July 2023. A total of 36 teams, of which 26 automatically qualified and 10 winners from Round One games, were drawn into nine groups to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the third round of the AFC Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and will also qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. Whereas, the third and fourth-place teams will advance to the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualification. The matches will be played from 16 November 2023 to 11 June 2024.
India begins in the second round of the AFC Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and they are clubbed with Qatar, Kuwait and the winner of the round one match between Afghanistan and Mongolia. Their campaign will begin in Kuwait in November 2023 and end with a trip to Qatar in July next year. They are the second-best ranked team in the group placed 99 and were in pot 2 of the draw following their back-to-back success in Tri-nation Cup, Intercontinental Cup and SAFF Championship. The Blue Tigers have never managed to enter the third round or the main draw of the FIFA World Cup in their history.
Group A
Qatar
Kuwait
India
Afghanistan or Mongolia
Igor Stimac’s side will once again face Qatar in a World Cup qualifiers having done so for the previous edition in which the Middle-Eastern state was the hosts. Also staging the AFC Asian Cup in January 2024, Qatar will take on India after playing out a 1-0 win and 0-0 draw in the last two meetings. That scoreless draw was a historical result for the Blue Tigers as they prevented the Asian champions even without their captain and record-scorer Sunil Chhetri. However, the team has not won a single fixture in this tie.
India is going to face Kuwait for the third time this year having played them twice in the SAFF Championship earlier in June including the final. Although, this time India has to travel to Kuwait for their opening game in the qualifiers. The previous two matches ended in a draw and were dramatic in every sense. The one in the SAFF Championship ended in a 1-1 draw with the nation from the Gulf finding a late equalizer. The other in the final of the competition also ended with the same score-line but India clinched the title after a mind-boggling shoot-out.
The fourth side in this group is yet to be decided but whether it is Afghanistan or Mongolia, India will find another familiar opposition in hand. The Blue Tigers faced Mongolia in the Intercontinental Cup, which was their first-ever meeting, this year and won it by a 2-0 margin. But it seems like Afghanistan is the likelier of the two to advance and in that case, they will face India in the second-round qualifiers once again. The last two meetings in the FIFA qualifiers ended in 1-1 draws while the previous meeting for the qualification to the 2023 Asian Cup resulted in a dramatic 2-1 win for India.
Fixtures
16 November 2023
Kuwait vs India - Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, Kuwait City
21 November 2023
India vs Qatar - TBA
21 March 2024
Afghanistan or Mongolia vs India - TBA
26 March 2024
India vs Afghanistan or Mongolia- TBA
6 June 2024
India vs Kuwait - TBA
11 June 2024
Qatar vs India - TBA
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