AFC qualification for the 2010 World Cup allocated four automatic berths and one play-off spot among 43 competing Asian teams.
Key Facts
- Competing teams
- 43 teams entered AFC qualification
- Automatic berths awarded
- 4 spots for Asian teams
- Play-off berth
- 1 inter-confederation play-off place
- Qualified teams
- Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
- Play-off result
- Bahrain lost to New Zealand, missing qualification
- Notable firsts
- Timor-Leste debut; Australia's first as AFC member
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
FIFA allocated four automatic qualifying spots and one inter-confederation play-off place to the AFC for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Australia had joined the AFC in 2006, leaving the Oceania Football Confederation, making this their first World Cup qualifying campaign under the Asian confederation.
Forty-three AFC member nations competed across multiple qualifying rounds. Australia, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea secured the four automatic berths. Bahrain advanced to the inter-confederation play-off against Oceania's New Zealand but failed to win a fifth berth for Asia. Timor-Leste made their World Cup qualifying debut during this campaign.
Four Asian nations qualified directly for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Bahrain's play-off defeat by New Zealand meant Asia secured no additional representative. Myanmar's effective participation for the first time and Timor-Leste's debut marked expanding involvement in World Cup qualification across the continent.