FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian qualifiers: Qatar loses to UAE; Saudi Arabia held to 1-1 draw by Indonesia

The top two from each of the three groups in the Asian qualifiers progress directly to the 2026 finals in USA, Mexico and Canada with the third and fourth placed teams going into another round of qualifying.

UAE’s players celebrate after winning the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asia Zone qualifiers football match between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. | Photo Credit: AFP

Qatar lost 3-1 to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia was held to a 1-1 draw by Indonesia, while six-times qualifier Iran secured a 1-0 win over visitors Kyrgyzstan in a dramatic opening to Asia’s third round of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia playing in Group C, struggled despite playing on home turf, with Salem Al-Dawsari seeing his 79th-minute penalty saved by Indonesia’s debutant goalkeeper Maarten Paes.

Rangar Oratmangoen gave the Southeast Asians a surprise lead with a deflected shot after 19 minutes but Musab Al-Juwayr levelled the scores three minutes into first-half stoppage time.

Iraq leads the standings in Group B as Aymen Hussein’s header earned his side a 1-0 win over Oman in Basra. Jordan and Kuwait, the other two teams in Group B, played out a 1-1 draw in Amman.

In Group A, the UAE fought back to defeat Qatar 3-1 having gone behind to Ibrahim Al-Hassan’s 38th minute opener.

But goals from Harib Abdalla, Khaled Ibrahim and Ali Saleh in the final quarter of the game saw the visitor notch up a victory over the back-to-back Asian Cup winners.

Iran defeated Kyrgyzstan thanks to Mehdi Taremi’s 34th-minute goal while Uzbekistan also claimed three points when Jaliloddin Marsharipov’s strike handed North Korea a 1-0 loss in Tashkent.

The top two from each of the three groups progress directly to the 2026 finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada with the third and fourth placed teams going into another round of qualifying.