Australia will play Jordan, Chinese Taipei, Kuwait and Nepal in the first phase of their qualification journey to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
The official draw for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and AFC Asian Cup China 2023™ – Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 was held at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday evening, and involved Socceroos great Tim Cahill as the draw’s facilitator.
FIXTURES BREAKDOWN: All upcoming FIFA World Cup Qualifiers for Caltex Socceroos
EVERYTHING TO KNOW: How Caltex Socceroos qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Australia will play eight matches - four at home & four away - between September 2019 and June 2020, and will need to finish as one of the eight group winners or four best runners-up to advance directly to the AFC Asian Cup 2023™ Finals as well as the next round of Asian qualifying for Qatar 2022.
Following the draw Socceroos Head Coach Graham Arnold welcomed Australia’s path – one which will see his squad travel to a diverse set of nations across the vast Asian confederation.
“We are happy with our draw,” Arnold said. “My first game in charge was in Kuwait City, and we won 4-0, so we have been there and experienced Kuwait as a group.”
“There are two teams that we have drawn (Kuwait and Jordan) that we have experience against and two teams that we are not as familiar with. But we will do our due diligence and ensure that we take every game as it comes and respect each match.”
“We have worked with 80 players across the Socceroos and Olyroos over the past year, so I believe with the depth that we have we are well positioned to deal with the qualifiers.”
Groups – FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and AFC Asian Cup China 2023™ – Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2
Group A |
Group B |
Group C |
Group D |
Group E |
Group F |
Group G |
Group H |
China |
Australia |
IR Iran |
Saudi Arabia |
Bangladesh |
Japan |
United Arab Emirates |
Korea Republic |
Syria |
Jordan |
Iraq |
Uzbekistan |
Oman |
Kyrgyz Republic |
Vietnam |
Lebanon |
Philippines |
Chinese Taipei |
Bahrain |
Palestine |
India |
Tajikistan |
Thailand |
Korea DPR |
Maldives |
Kuwait |
Hong Kong |
Yemen |
Afghanistan |
Myanmar |
Malaysia |
Turkmenistan |
Guam |
Nepal |
Cambodia |
Singapore |
Qatar |
Mongolia |
Indonesia |
Sri Lanka |
Match Schedule – FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and AFC Asian Cup China 2023™ – Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2
Kuwait v Australia
Date: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
Australia v Nepal
Date: Thursday, 10 October 2019
Chinese Taipei v Australia
Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2019
Jordan v Australia
Date: Thursday, 14 November 2019
Australia v Kuwait
Date: Thursday, 26 March 2020
Nepal v Australia
Date: Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Australia v Chinese Taipei
Date: Thursday, 4 June 2020
Australia v Jordan
Date: Tuesday, 9 June 2020