The national teams of Iran, Uzbekistan, as well as the winner of the first qualifying round between the teams of Hong Kong and Bhutan will be rivals of Turkmen football players in the second stage of the qualifying tournament of the 2026 World Cup, the final part of which will be held for the first time on the territory of three countries: the USA, Mexico and Canada. According to the draw held today at the headquarters of the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur, these teams formed group "E".
The draw, in which 46 teams took part, was conducted in two stages. First, the 20 worst teams, according to the latest FIFA rankings, were divided into 10 pairs: Afghanistan-Mongolia, Myanmar-Macau, Singapore-Guam, Taiwan-East Timor, Hong Kong-Bhutan, Indonesia-Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia-Pakistan, Yemen-Sri Lanka, Nepal-Laos and Maldives-Bangladesh. The winners of the first qualifying round, who will be determined by a two-match home and away confrontation on October 12 and 17, 2023, will then join the next qualifiers.
During the draw for the second qualifying round, the teams were divided into four groups. Turkmenistan, along with Lebanon, Tajikistan, Thailand, the DPRK, the Philippines, Malaysia and Kuwait were in the third basket. The teams that got into it were divided into 9 qualifying groups. Turkmenistan and its rivals ended up in group "E".
Compositions of other groups:
"A": Qatar, India, Kuwait, Afghanistan/Mongolia;
"B": Japan, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar/Macau;
"C": Republic of Korea, China, Thailand, Singapore/Guam;
"D": Oman, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Taiwan/East Timor;
"F": Iraq, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia/Brunei-Darussalam;
"G": Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tajikistan, Cambodia/Pakistan;
"H": UAE, Bahrain, Yemen/Sri Lanka, Nepal/Laos;
"I": Australia, Palestine, Lebanon, Maldives/Bangladesh.
The teams will play six matches at home and away in the period from November 16, 2023 to June 11, 2024.
The top two teams from each of the nine groups will advance to the third round of selection for the 2026 World Cup. The draw will take place in 2024. At this stage, 18 national teams will be divided into three groups of six teams. They will play in two rounds, and the top two teams from each group will directly qualify for the World Cup-2026. Two more World Cup qualifiers will be drawn in the fourth round of selection. One team from Asia will also qualify for the intercontinental playoffs, where six teams will compete for the last two places at the 2026 World Cup.
It should be noted that the first two rounds of the 2026 World Cup qualification are combined with the selection for the 2027 Asian Cup, which will be held in Saudi Arabia. The 18 teams that finished first and second in the groups in the second round automatically qualify for the continental Championship. The remaining teams eliminated in the first and second rounds of the World Cup selection will compete for the remaining tickets to the 2027Asian Cup in a separate qualification. They will also be joined by the Northern Mariana Islands national team, whose football federation is part of the AFC, but not FIFA.
Meanwhile, the calendar of our team's games has become known.
The Turkmenistan national team will start in the qualifying tournament of the 2026World Cup on November 16, 2023 with a home match against Uzbekistan. In the second round, it will play on November 21, 2023 away against the winner of the pair Hong Kong-Bhutan.
The remaining four games of the second qualifying round will be held in 2024. On March 21, Mergen Orazov's wards will play against Iran in Tehran, and on March 26 they will hold a return match with the same team in Turkmenistan. In the 5th round of the qualifying stage of the 2026 World Cup, our players will meet Uzbekistan on June 6 in Tashkent, and in the final qualifying match they will play at home on June 11 with the winner of the Hong Kong – Bhutan pair.
