AFC Asian Cup Third Round: In which pot will India be for the draw?

After drawing against Afghanistan, India have qualified for the AFC Asian Cup third round qualifiers by virtue of being the third-placed team in Group E of the joint qualifiers of World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023. 

On Wednesday, AFC officially confirmed 22 out of 24 teams who will advance to the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers third round. 

Three of the lowest ranked second-placed teams, all eight third and fourth-placed teams across Groups A to H, as well as three best fifth-placed teams – 22 teams in total – have qualified for the 24-team AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers Final Round.

The remaining four participating teams, ranked 36 to 39, will compete in the AFC Asian Cup China 2023TM Qualifiers Play-offs, which will be played over two legs on September 7 and October 12, 2021, with the draw to be held on June 24, 2021.

13 participating teams, including AFC Asian Cup 2023 host China and FIFA World Cup 2022 host and reigning Asian champions Qatar have sealed their places for the continental showpiece, which is scheduled to take place from June 16 to July 16, 2023.

Which are the 22 teams that have already qualified for Asian Cup third round qualifiers?

Let us now look at the 22 teams who have qualified for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers Final Round by virtue of their final positions in the Asian Qualifiers Preliminary Round 2.

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Whereas, the following four participating teams (ranked 36 to 39) will be drawn to compete in the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers Play-off, with the two winners qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers Final Round.

When is the 2023 Asian Cup third round qualifying playoff draw?

The draw will take place on June 24, 2021. 

How will the seeding for 2023 Asian Cup third-round qualifying draw happen? 

The final seeding will be based on the FIFA World Rankings prior to the draw. There will be four pots. 

Pot 1 will have the top six seeded teams. Pot 2 will comprise of teams seeded between 7-12. Pot 3 will be made up of teams seeded between 13-18 and finally, pot 4 will have the rest of the teams.

Then all the teams will be drawn into six groups of four, with one team from each pot. 

How do the pots for 2023 Asian Cup third round qualifiers currently look like? 

As mentioned before, the FIFA rankings will decide the seedings when the actual draw takes place. The current arrangement is based upon the latest rankings. Hence, some of the positions may change at the time of draw. 

The two spots will be filled by the two winners of the Play-off round. 

* The two particular spots in Pot 2 and Pot 4 have been left out because there is a chance that Chinese Taipei (141) and Guam (198) will progress through the play-offs and if that's the case, Chinese Taipei will be placed in Pot 2 and Guam in Pot 4 as per current rankings.