2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying draw seeding for AFC (25 July 2014)

The qualifying system has already been announced by AFC.

Assumptions:

- FIFA will use the FIFA ranking to seed the teams
- AFC will choose the July 2015 ranking for seeding the first group stage draw


The July 2015 FIFA ranking will include matches played between July 2011 and July 2015. The "0.5" time frame just closed.

This the July 2015 ranking (for AFC only) using matches played up to and including July 24th, 2014.

Looking to improve your FIFA ranking before the draw? Use the e-mail address from my profile to contact me.

Changes since the last update (using the same qualifying system):

Palestine climb from pot 4 to pot 2.
Guam and Myanmar climb from the seeded pot of the first round to pot 4.

Oman replace Australia in pot 1.
Turkmenistan and Maldives climb from pot 4 to pot 3.
Malaysia climb from pot 5 to pot 4.
Afghanistan drop from pot 2 to pot 3.
Syria, India and Singapore drop from pot 3 to pot 4.
Hong Kong and Bangladesh drop from pot 4 to pot 5.
Bangladesh drop from pot 5 to the seeded pot of the first round.
Nepal drop from pot 4 to the seeded pot of the first round.

I know AFC have published the dates for the group stage starting in June 2015. However, I doubt FIFA will agree to hold the draw for AFC months before the main draw. Besides, there are 26 FIFA match dates after the draw up to December 2017. AFC need 20 for the 2 group stages, 2 for the AFC playoff and 2 for the intercontinental playoff. That's 24. So there's plenty of time.

First round

Since it will take place before July, it will obviously use another edition of the FIFA ranking. However, for the purpose of this post, I will use the July ranking.

Pot 1: Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Chinese Taipei
Pot 2: Macau, Brunei Darussalam, Timor-Leste, Mongolia, Bhutan, Cambodia

Group stage:

Pot 1: Iran, Japan, Uzbekistan, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Korea Republic, Oman, Saudi Arabia
Pot 2: Australia, Palestine, Iraq, Qatar, China PR, Bahrain, Lebanon, Kuwait
Pot 3: Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Korea DPR, Maldives
Pot 4: Syria, India, Guam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar
Pot 5: Hong Kong, Pakistan + 6 winners from the first round.

Rank - Previous rank - Team - Points

 1  2 Iran                  281
 1  3 Japan                 281
 3  1 Uzbekistan            272
 4  5 Jordan                255
 5  4 United Arab Emirates  242
 6  6 Korea Republic        233
 7 10 Oman                  231
 8  8 Saudi Arabia          196
-------------------------------
 9  7 Australia             189
10 14 Iraq                  181
10 32 Palestine             181
12 11 Qatar                 169
13  9 China PR              168
14 13 Bahrain               150
15 15 Lebanon               142
16 12 Kuwait                140
-------------------------------
17 17 Tajikistan            123
18 16 Afghanistan           114
19 21 Philippines           113
20 23 Vietnam               110
21 25 Turkmenistan           99
22 22 Kyrgyzstan             96
23 18 Korea DPR              90
24 27 Maldives               87
-------------------------------
25 19 Syria                  77
26 19 India                  76
27 35 Guam                   75
28 24 Singapore              71
29 33 Malaysia               69
30 29 Thailand               66
31 26 Indonesia              65
32 38 Myanmar                62
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33 28 Hong Kong              59
34 30 Pakistan               51
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35 34 Bangladesh             48
36 39 Laos                   40
37 31 Nepal                  39
38 36 Sri Lanka              37
39 40 Yemen                  33
40 37 Chinese Taipei         32
-------------------------------
40 44 Macau                  32
42 41 Brunei Darussalam      15
42 41 Timor-Leste            15
44 43 Mongolia                6
45 45 Bhutan                  0
45 45 Cambodia                0

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About me:

Christian, husband, father x 3, programmer, Romanian. Started the blog in March 2007. Quit in April 2018. You can find me on LinkedIn.