China head coach Branko Ivankovic conceded on Thursday that his side has been drawn into the toughest group in the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifying tournament.
The 18 remaining Asian teams were divided into three groups at Thursday’s drawing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to vie for 8.5 berths for the World Cup finals.
China will battle it out with Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia in Group C – indisputably a group of death.
“Yes it’s a tough draw for us, it’s the toughest group compared to the A and B groups but this is something we expected because we were in the fifth pot and we know that we cannot find a weak team,” Ivankovic told the AFC website. “In these 18 teams, there is no weak team.”
The top-two teams of each group will qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The third and fourth-placed teams will progress to the next round of Qualifiers in two groups of three teams in a single-round format. Both group winners will gain berths to the World Cup.
The two second-placed finishers in the fourth round will play each other twice for the right to reach the intercontinental playoff and compete for the final available ticket.
