September's World Cup Qualifiers: Asia & South America get serious
And Oceania gets started! Here is the lowdown on what's going on this month in the race to the 2026 FIFA World Cup
The September after a European Championship always feels like the first time the upcoming World Cup really hones into view.
Though it is no longer the starting point for European qualification, there is still plenty going on around the world for us to catch up on and get excited about!
This month, we have qualifiers from three confederations; the AFC and CONMEBOL are already well on their way to determining their teams, while OFC qualification is beginning.
It is a little too early for anyone to seal their tickets to Canada, Mexico and the United States just yet, but two wins for certain teams here could at least begin a wave of free-cancellation hotel bookings.
Asia - Who will be quickest out of the blocks?
We have already said goodbye to 28 teams in the AFC through the First and Second Rounds, and now the 18 still standing will battle it out for the six automatic places in the Third Round.
Three groups of six means it’s the top two in each group who are off to the World Cup, but it’s not all over for those finishing third and fourth, who will go to the Fourth Round this time next year in search of one of two places.
All the usual favourites are there. In fact, of the top 18 seeds, Syria, Vietnam and India are the only ones that have not reached this stage, while Indonesia are the only one of the 20 teams that began in the First Round to have made it this far.
Group A
Qatar come into the Third Round as AFC Asian Cup champions, which should count for something. Side note - they also went into their home World Cup in 2022 as AFC Asian Cup champions.
They do at least have the rest of the confederations’ number, which is all they need to navigate this group. Plus, they are on an 11-match unbeaten run since the start of the Asian Cup, with all of those matches against teams from the continent.
Tintín Márquez’s men begin the round at home to one of their rivals - the United Arab Emirates. The UAE will certainly be fired up against a team they will likely have to finish above if they are to make the top two, and are unbeaten since a disappointing Round of 16 exit at the Asian Cup.
The other team with the Qataris in their sights are Uzbekistan, one of Asia’s best hopes of a first-time qualifier in 2026. Should North Korea fail to beat them, 9th September will mark one year since the White Wolves last lost a match in 90 minutes, as Qatar needed penalties to beat them in the Asia Cup.
With a local derby against Kyrgyzstan to follow, Uzbekistan will be aiming to take maximum points this month before October’s meeting with Iran, who they drew twice with in the Second Round.
Going for a fourth qualification in succession, the Iranians will be favourites despite also being downed by Qatar in the Asian Cup. They should get off to a good start at home to Kyrgyzstan, but an away trip to the UAE to finish their week will be a true test of Amir Ghalenoei’s side.
Fixtures
5th September: Uzbekistan vs North Korea (Tashkent), Iran vs Kyrgyzstan (Fuladshahr), Qatar vs United Arab Emirates (Al Rayyan)
10th September: North Korea vs Qatar (Vientiane, Laos), Kyrgyzstan vs Uzbekistan (Bishkek), United Arab Emirates vs Iran (Al Ain)
Group B
South Korea’s toughest opponent in this group will be the air miles, as the Taegeuk Warriors face five teams from the Middle East.
Palestine at home should be a routine win, with the Palestinians squeezing through the Second Round at Lebanon’s expense, yet could only pick up wins against Bangladesh.
A trip to Oman will be a bigger test for South Korea whose only defeat in the last 12 months was the shock 2-0 loss to Jordan in the Asian Cup semi-finals.
Jordan, like Oman and Palestine, are seeking their maiden World Cup finals appearance, and if their run to the continental final in February wasn’t a flash in the pan, they are well-placed to accomplish it.
They actually faced South Korea twice at the tournament without defeat, and will be attempting to get plenty of points on the board before they meet them in October, with matches this month against the outsiders, Kuwait and Palestine. Neighbours Palestine and Jordan will meet thousands of miles from home, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in a match I picked out as one to watch during this international window.
Kuwait are the second-lowest seeds still left in the competition and one would imagine they will need to upset Jordan or Iraq this month to stand a chance of finishing in the top four. Iraq will face Kuwait after hosting Oman in Basra, the first meeting between the teams eyeing second spot in the group.
Fixtures
5th September: South Korea vs Palestine (Seoul), Iraq vs Oman (Basra), Jordan vs Kuwait (Amman)
10th September: Palestine vs Jordan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Oman vs South Korea (Muscat), Kuwait vs Iraq (Kuwait City)
Group C
Group C is what you might call a group of two halves.
Of a possible 18 in total, Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia have qualified for World Cups this century on 15 occasions.
Also in the group are Bahrain, China and Indonesia, who have qualified for two World Cups combined in history. China in 2002, Indonesia as everyone’s favourite team, the Dutch East Indies in 1938.
September sees all the haves play at home first, then all play away second. If all goes as expected, three teams will finish the week on six points and three will be stuck on zero.
An upset of any kind will really stir things up early on. With only one win in their 10, I cannot see it coming from China as they go to Japan before welcoming Saudi Arabia.
Indonesia, a nation who would be powerhouses at least in Asia if football popularity was enough, did well to overcome Vietnam in the last round, a team many thought had a decent chance of debuting in 2026, yet a trip to Saudi Arabia before hosting Australia - the Socceroos are unbeaten over 90 minutes since October - is a baptism of fire at this level.
Bahrain got the better of Jordan in the Asian Cup group stage, but their form has been patchy at best. They did not look overly convincing in a Second Round group with the UAE and Yemen. This month, they go to Australia before Japan, who scored 24 and conceded 0 in the Second Round, roll into town.
Fixtures
5th September: Japan vs China (Saitama), Australia vs Bahrain (Gold Coast), Saudi Arabia vs Indonesia (Jeddah)
10th September: Bahrain vs Japan (Riffa), China vs Saudi Arabia (Dalian), Indonesia vs Australia (Jakarta)
South America - Race restarts with giants looking over their shoulders
10 months since the last matchday, even the participants will be in need of a reminder of where we stand in South America.
The 10 teams in CONMEBOL have played six matches each thus far, with 12 still to come starting with two each this month.
A recap of the table will be happy reading for Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia who occupy the top three places, and for Venezuela and Ecuador; the former looking to qualify for the first time, and the latter not being hindered by a three-point deduction.
The team in sixth, the final automatic qualifying place, are Brazil, whose stuttering start showed little sign of being forgotten after a disappointing Copa América performance in the summer. Currently, FIFA’s decision to expand the tournament to 48 teams is their surprising saving grace.
CONMEBOL - September’s matches
Argentina begin their quest to remain top of the standings with a meeting with old rivals Chile in Buenos Aires.
Without Lionel Messi for these two matchdays, the back-to-back Copa América champions should still have plenty of firepower with Lautaro Martínez and Julián Alvarez up front against a Chile team who have won once and scored just three times in qualification thus far.
Next up, they go to Barranquilla to play Colombia for a repeat of the Copa América final. Despite sitting third, Colombia are the only team still unbeaten in CONMEBOL qualifying, and will be expecting that to still be the case after they go to Peru, who have earned two points from their first six matches, scoring one goal.
With nine points so far, Venezuela have their best chance to finally reach the World Cup. September will not be easy for them, though, as they must deal with the difficult conditions in Bolivia before dropping over 4,000m to play Uruguay.
Uruguay finished third at the Copa, but did so in unconvincing fashion; needing penalties to beat Brazil and Canada and losing to Colombia in the semi-final in between.
La Celeste looked lost at times without Luis Suárez in the US, but will have to adapt to life without him pretty soon, as he announced this week that the home match with Paraguay on matchday seven will be his last for his country.
Remarkably, the Paraguayans sit seventh - in the intercontinental play-off place - despite also scoring just once in six matches.
After the meeting in Montevideo, they welcome Brazil for what could be the most significant match in the whole qualifying process.
If Brazil win, regardless of what happens in their match with Ecuador on Friday, then that should give them plenty of breathing space between themselves and the chasing pack. Slip up, especially if they fail to beat Ecuador, and the possibility of Brazil missing a first World Cup becomes very real.
Chile face Bolivia in a real six-pointer; a win will see them breathing down Brazilian necks, a loss and other results going against them will make hopes of qualification very slim.
Fixtures
5th September: Bolivia vs Venezuela (El Alto), Argentina vs Chile (Buenos Aires)
6th September: Uruguay vs Paraguay (Montevideo), Brazil vs Ecuador (Curitiba), Peru vs Colombia (Lima)
10th September: Colombia vs Argentina (Barranquilla), Chile vs Bolivia (Santiago), Ecuador vs Peru (Quito), Venezuela vs Uruguay (Maturín), Paraguay vs Brazil (Asunción)
Oceania: All eyes on Apia
For the first time, the OFC will be guaranteed a team at the World Cup. Cynics will say it actually just guarantees New Zealand a place at the finals, but as Tahiti proved by winning the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, upsets do happen in Oceania.
New Zealand and Tahiti are two of the seven teams that will join the process in the Second Round - along with the Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu - which will be played in October and November.
The top two in each of the two groups of four will proceed to March’s Third Round, where semi-finals and a final will decide the one OFC place at both the World Cup and the intercontinental play-offs.
But before that, we must determine which team takes the eighth and final spot in the Second Round. Thankfully, that’s where this month’s First Round comes in!
OFC First Round
The bottom four teams in the OFC, ranked between 186th and 200th in the FIFA rankings, are meeting in Apia, Samoa for a semi-finals and final tournament to decide who progresses to the Second Round.
The Cook Islands, the highest-ranked of the four, take on the lowest-ranked side, Tonga. The two met back in March in Nations Cup qualifying, where the Cook Islanders edged the game 1-0.
The other semi-final will be quite the derby, as Samoa face American Samoa! The Americans are ranked five places higher in the rankings than their neighbours, yet when the two met in November 2023, Samoa ran out 10-0 winners!
What to really expect from this four-team tournament is anyone’s guess, but it’s sure to be thrilling!
Fixtures (all in Apia, Samoa)
6th September: Cook Islands vs Tonga, American Samoa vs Samoa
9th September: Winner Match 1 vs Winner Match 2
What are your predictions ahead of this month’s World Cup qualifiers? Let me know in the comments and don’t forget to subscribe!
Anthony Tomas is a football writer and commentator, who writes for Flashscore and World Soccer Magazine.
Thanks for sharing! It’s always difficult to keep track of all the different international games and tournaments