2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

Tournament details
Teams	39 (from 1 confederation)
← 1998 2006 →

Listed below are the dates and results for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for Asia.

The Asian Football Confederation was allocated four and half qualifying berths for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, South Korea and Japan, the co-hosts, qualified automatically, leaving two and half spots open for competition between 40 teams. Myanmar withdrew from the tournament after being placed in Group 2 but before any matches had been played, therefore reducing the group to 3 teams.

Afghanistan, Bhutan and North Korea chose not to participate.

Asia's two remaining automatic qualifying berths were taken by Saudi Arabia and China.

Iran defeated United Arab Emirates for the chance to become the possible fifth Asian qualifier, but lost to Ireland in the intercontinental play-off.

Tournament structure

There were three rounds of play:

• First Stage: The 39 teams were divided into 9 groups of 4 teams each, and 1 group of 3 teams. The teams played against each other twice, except in Group 2, where the teams played against each other once. The group winners would advance to the Final Round.
• Second Stage: The 10 teams were divided into 2 groups of 5 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify. The runners-up would advance to the AFC Play-off.
• Play-off: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would advance to the UEFA/AFC Intercontinental Play-off.

First round

Main article: 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round

Key to colours in group tables
	Group winners qualify for the Second round

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Oman 6 5 1 0 33 3 +30 16 Syria 6 4 1 1 40 6 +34 13 Laos 6 1 1 4 3 40 −37 4 Philippines 6 0 1 5 2 29 −27 1

Laos – 0–7 2–0 0–9 Oman 12–0 – 7–0 2–0 Philippines 1–1 0–2 – 1–5 Syria 11–0 3–3 12–0 –

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Iran 2 2 0 0 21 0 +21 6 Tajikistan 2 1 0 1 16 2 +14 3 Guam 2 0 0 2 0 35 −35 0

Guam – – – Iran 19–0 – 2–0 Tajikistan 16–0 – –

Group 3

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qatar 6 5 1 0 14 3 +11 16 Palestine 6 2 1 3 8 9 −1 7 Malaysia 6 2 1 3 8 11 −3 7 Hong Kong 6 1 1 4 3 10 −7 4

Hong Kong – 2–1 1–1 0–3 Malaysia 2–0 – 4–3 0–0 Palestine 1–0 1–0 – 1–2 Qatar 2–0 5–1 2–1 –

Group 4

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Bahrain 6 5 0 1 9 4 +5 15 Kuwait 6 4 1 1 9 3 +6 13 Kyrgyzstan 6 1 1 4 3 9 −6 4 Singapore 6 0 2 4 3 8 −5 2

Bahrain – 1–2 1–0 2–0 Kuwait 0–1 – 2–0 1–1 Kyrgyzstan 1–2 0–3 – 1–1 Singapore 1–2 0-1 0–1 –

Group 5

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Thailand 6 5 1 0 20 5 +15 16 Lebanon 6 4 1 1 26 5 +21 13 Sri Lanka 6 1 1 4 8 20 −12 4 Pakistan 6 0 1 5 5 29 −24 1

Lebanon – 6–0 4–0 1–2 Pakistan 1–8 – 3–3 0–6 Sri Lanka 0–5 3–1 – 0–3 Thailand 2–2 3–0 4–2 –

Group 6

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Iraq 6 4 2 0 28 5 +23 14 Kazakhstan 6 4 2 0 20 2 +18 14 Nepal 6 2 0 4 13 25 −12 6 Macau 6 0 0 6 2 31 −29 0

Iraq – 1–1 8–0 4–2 Kazakhstan 1–1 – 3–0 4–0 Macau 0–5 0–5 – 1–6 Nepal 1–9 0-6 4–1 –

Group 7

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Uzbekistan 6 4 2 0 20 5 +15 14 Turkmenistan 6 4 0 2 12 7 +5 12 Jordan 6 2 2 2 12 7 +5 8 Chinese Taipei 6 0 0 6 0 25 −25 0

Chinese Taipei – 0–2 0–5 0–4 Jordan 6–0 – 1–2 1–1 Turkmenistan 1–0 2–0 – 2–5 Uzbekistan 7–0 2–2 1–0 –

Group 8

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts United Arab Emirates 6 4 0 2 21 5 +16 12 Yemen 6 3 2 1 14 8 +6 11 India 6 3 2 1 11 5 +6 11 Brunei 6 0 0 6 0 28 −28 0

Brunei – 0–1 0–12 0–5 India 5–0 – 1–0 1–1 United Arab E. 4–0 1–0 – 3–2 Yemen 1–0 3–3 2–1 –

Group 9

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts China 6 6 0 0 25 3 +22 18 Indonesia 6 4 0 2 16 7 +9 12 Maldives 6 1 1 4 8 19 −11 4 Cambodia 6 0 1 5 2 22 −20 1

Cambodia – 0–4 0–2 1–1 China 3–1 – 5–1 10–1 Indonesia 6–0 0–2 – 5–0 Maldives 6–0 0-1 0–2 –

Group 10

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Saudi Arabia 6 6 0 0 30 0 +30 18 Vietnam 6 3 1 2 9 9 +0 10 Bangladesh 6 1 2 3 5 15 −10 5 Mongolia 6 0 1 5 2 22 −20 1

Bangladesh – 2–2 0–3 0–4 Mongolia 0–3 – 0–6 0–1 Saudi Arabia 6–0 6–0 – 5–0 Vietnam 0–0 4–0 0–4 –

Second round

Main article: 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Second Round

Key to colours in group tables
	Group winners qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup
	Runners-up advance to the AFC play off

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Saudi Arabia 8 5 2 1 17 8 +9 17 Iran 8 4 3 1 10 7 +3 15 Bahrain 8 2 4 2 8 9 −1 10 Iraq 8 2 1 5 9 10 −1 7 Thailand 8 0 4 4 5 15 −10 4

Bahrain – 3–1 2–0 0–4 1–1 Iran 0–0 – 2–1 2–0 1–0 Iraq 1–0 1–2 – 1–2 4–0 Saudi Arabia 1–1 2–2 1–0 – 4–1 Thailand 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–3 –

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts China 8 6 1 1 13 2 +11 19 United Arab Emirates 8 3 2 3 10 11 −1 11 Uzbekistan 8 3 1 4 13 14 −1 10 Qatar 8 2 3 3 10 10 +0 9 Oman 8 1 3 4 7 16 −9 6

China – 1–0 3–0 3–0 2–0 Oman 0–2 – 0–3 1–1 4–2 Qatar 1–1 0–0 – 1–2 2–2 United Arab E. 0–1 2–2 0–2 – 4–1 Uzbekistan 1–0 5–0 2–1 0–1 –

Play-off

25 October 2001

17:30 UTC+04:30

Iran	1 – 0	United Arab Emirates
Bagheri 45'	Report

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Kim Young-Joo (KOR)

---

31 October 2001

18:30 UTC+04

United Arab Emirates	0 – 3	Iran
	Report	Daei 7' Bagheri 76' Minavand 79'

Al-Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Toru Kamikawa (JPN)

Iran win 4-0 on aggregate and qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA–AFC play-off)

Intercontinental play-off

Main article: 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA–AFC play-off)

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Republic of Ireland	2–1	Iran	2–0	0–1

Qualified teams

The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Japan	Hosts	31 May 1996	1 (1998)
South Korea	Hosts	31 May 1996	5 (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998)
Saudi Arabia	Second Round Group A winners	21 October 2001	2 (1994, 1998)
China	Second Round Group B winners	7 October 2001	0 (debut)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

External links

• FIFA.com Reports
• RSSSF Page