View source for 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

{{Infobox international football competition
| tourney_name   = 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
| year           = 
| alt            =
| caption        =
| host countries = 
| dates          = {{nowrap|24 November 2000 - 15 November 2001}}
| num_teams      = 39
| confederations = 1
| matches        = 153
| goals          = 587
| attendance     = {{#expr:<!--Group 1-->20000 + 2000 + 19000 + 2099 + 9000 + 2200 + 12000 + 3000 + 18000 + 7000  +25000 + 1000 +<!--Group 2-->30000 + 5000 + 35000 +<!--Group 3-->500 + 7000 + 5000 + 5000 + 4540 + 4500 + 500 + 2000 + 4000 + 100 + 2000 + 400+<!--Group 4-->25000 + 25000 + 1000 + 12000 + 1000 + 25000 + 1099 + 12099 + 8000 + 800 + 25099 + 18000 +<!--Group 5-->1000 + 5000 + 1000 + 4000 + 1000 + 15000 + 6000 + 10000 + 6000 + 10000 + 8000 + 30000 +<!--Group 6-->45000 + 45000 + 15000 + 25000 + 45000 + 50000 + 15000 + 8000 + 8000 + 5000 + 12000 + 25000 +<!--Group 7-->6000 + 45000 + 5000 + 55000 + 6000 + 55000 + 8000 + 800 + 400 + 4000 + 20 + 100 +<!--Group 8-->6000 + 12000 + 1000 + 21000 + 12000 + 30000 + 25000 + 7000 + 17000 + 4000 + 20000 + 7000 +<!--Group 9-->11850 + 30000 + 3000 + 32000 + 42000 + 12000 + 7000 + 7000 + 11576 + 37000 + 27000 + 50000 +<!--Group 10-->3099 + 12000 + 1000 + 5000 + 2000 + 3000 + 5000 + 3000 + 1000 + 15000 + 2099 + 8000 +<!--Group A-->20000 + 45000 + 35000 + 120000 + 10000 + 30000 + 35000 + 40000 + 50000 + 18000 + 35000 + 17000 + 15000 + 30000 + 75000 + 17000 + 100000 + 20000 + 27000 + 25000 +<!--Group B-->15000 + 15000 + 46000 + 40000 + 35000 + 20000 + 30000 + 25000 + 3000 + 44376 + 3000 + 42000 + 15000 + 6000 + 8000 + 45000 + 400 + 43850 + 4000 + 15000 +<!--Third round-->40000 + 18000}}
| top_scorer     = {{fbicon|OMA}} [[Hani Al-Dhabit]]<br>{{fbicon|OMA}} [[Yaqoob Juma Al-Mukhaini]]<br>{{fbicon|KSA}} [[Talal Al-Meshal]]<br>{{fbicon|SYR|1980}} [[Said Bayazid]] <br>(11 goals each)
| prevseason     = [[1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|1998]]
| nextseason     = [[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|2006]]
}}
{{Qualification for championships (AFC)}}
Listed below are the dates and results for the '''[[2002 FIFA World Cup]] [[FIFA World Cup qualification|qualification]]''' rounds for [[Asian Football Confederation|Asia]].

The Asian Football Confederation was allocated four and half qualifying berths for the [[2002 FIFA World Cup]], [[South Korea national football team|South Korea]] and [[Japan national football team|Japan]], the co-hosts, qualified automatically, leaving two and half spots open for competition between 40 teams. [[Myanmar national football team|Myanmar]] withdrew from the tournament after being placed in Group 2 but before any matches had been played, therefore reducing the group to 3 teams.

[[Afghanistan national football team|Afghanistan]], [[Bhutan national football team|Bhutan]] and [[North Korea national football team|North Korea]] chose not to participate.

Asia's two remaining automatic qualifying berths were taken by [[Saudi Arabia national football team|Saudi Arabia]] and [[China national football team|China]].

[[Iran national football team|Iran]] defeated [[United Arab Emirates national football team|United Arab Emirates]] for the chance to become the possible third Asian qualifier, but lost to [[Republic of Ireland national football team|Ireland]] in the inter-continental play-off.

==Format==

There were three rounds of play:
*'''First round''': The 39 teams were divided into nine groups of four teams each, and one group of three teams. The teams played against each other twice, except in group 2, where the teams played against each other once. The group winners advanced to the second round.
*'''Second round''': The 10 teams were divided into two groups of five teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners qualified for the World Cup. The runners-up advanced to the AFC third round.
*'''Third round''': The two teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner advanced to the UEFA–AFC inter-continental play-off.

==First round==
{{Main|2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round}}

===Group 1===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 1|show_matches=y}}
===Group 2===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 2|show_matches=y}}
===Group 3===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 3|show_matches=y}}
===Group 4===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 4|show_matches=y}}
===Group 5===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 5|show_matches=y}}
===Group 6===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 6|show_matches=y}}
===Group 7===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 7|show_matches=y}}
===Group 8===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 8|show_matches=y}}
===Group 9===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 9|show_matches=y}}
===Group 10===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round|transcludesection=Group 10|show_matches=y}}

==Second round==
{{Main|2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round}}

===Group A===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round|transcludesection=Group A|show_matches=y}}
===Group B===
{{:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round|transcludesection=Group B|show_matches=y}}

==Third round==
{{Main|2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round}}
{{TwoLeg start}}
{{TwoLegResult|'''{{fb-rt|IRN}}'''||4–0|{{fb|UAE}}||[[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round#Iran v United Arab Emirates|1–0]]|[[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round#United Arab Emirates v Iran|3–0]]}}
{{end}}

==Inter-confederation play-offs==
{{main article|2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA–AFC play-off)}}
{{#lst:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (inter-confederation play-offs)|playoff1}}

==Qualified teams==
The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Team
! Qualified as
! Qualified on
! data-sort-type="number"|Previous [[National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup|appearances]] in [[FIFA World Cup]]<sup>[[#1|1]]</sup>
|-
| {{fb|JPN}} || rowspan="2" | {{sort|*|Hosts}} || rowspan="2" | {{dts|31 May 1996}} || 1 ([[1998 FIFA World Cup|1998]])
|-
| {{fb|KOR|1997}} || 5 ([[1954 FIFA World Cup|1954]], [[1986 FIFA World Cup|1986]], [[1990 FIFA World Cup|1990]], [[1994 FIFA World Cup|1994]], [[1998 FIFA World Cup|1998]])
|-
| {{fb|KSA}} || {{sort|A1|[[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round#Group A|Second round group A]] winners}} || {{dts|21 October 2001}} || 2 ([[1994 FIFA World Cup|1994]], [[1998 FIFA World Cup|1998]])
|-
| {{fb|CHN}} || {{sort|B1|[[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round#Group B|Second round group B]] winners}} || {{dts|7 October 2001}} || 0 (debut)
|}
:<div id="1"><sup>1</sup> '''Bold''' indicates champions for that year. ''Italic'' indicates hosts for that year.</div>

==Top goalscorers==
{{Goalscorers
|goals=587 |matches=153

|11 goals=
*{{fbicon|OMA}} [[Hani Al-Dhabit]]
*{{fbicon|OMA}} [[Yaqoob Juma Al-Mukhaini]]
*{{fbicon|KSA}} [[Talal Al-Meshal]]
*{{fbicon|SYR|1980}} [[Said Bayazid]]

|10 goals=
*{{fbicon|IRN}} [[Ali Daei]]
*{{fbicon|KSA}} [[Obeid Al-Dosari]]
*{{fbicon|THA}} [[Kiatisuk Senamuang]]
*{{fbicon|UAE}} [[Yaser Salem Ali]]
*{{fbicon|UZB}} [[Jafar Irismetov]]

|9 goals=
*{{fbicon|IRQ|1991}} [[Hesham Mohammed]]

|8 goals=
*{{fbicon|IRN}} [[Karim Bagheri]]
*{{fbicon|KSA}} [[Sami Al-Jaber]]
*{{fbicon|UZB}} [[Mirjalol Qosimov]]
}}
Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
*[[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round#Goalscorers|First round]]
*[[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round#Goalscorers|Second round]]
*[[#Play-off|Play-off]]
{{div col end}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071029174841/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=3847/index.html FIFA.com Reports]
* [https://www.rsssf.org/tables/2002q.html RSSSF Page]

{{FIFA World Cup 2002 Qualifiers}}
{{FIFA World Cup}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2002 Fifa World Cup Qualification (Afc)}}
[[Category:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)| ]]
[[Category:FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)]]