2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round

The first round of AFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification) was played from 12 to 23 March 2015.^[1]

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round

Tournament details
Dates	12-17 March 2015
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	12
Goals scored	24 (2 per match)
Attendance	89,973 (7,498 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Chencho Gyeltshen Chan Vathanaka Sunil Chhetri Chiquito do Carmo[note 1] (2 goals each)
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Format

A total of twelve teams (teams ranked 35–46 in the AFC entrant list) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.

Seeding

The draw for the first round was held on 10 February 2015, 15:30 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[2]

The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015 (shown in parentheses below).^[3][4] The 12 teams were seeded into two pots:

• Pot A contained the teams ranked 1–6 (i.e., 35–40 in the AFC entrant list).
• Pot B contained the teams ranked 7–12 (i.e., 41–46 in the AFC entrant list).

Each tie contained a team from Pot A and a team from Pot B, with the team from Pot A hosting the first leg.

Note: Bolded teams qualified for the second round.

Pot A	Pot B
India (171)  Sri Lanka (172)  Yemen (176)  Cambodia (179)  Chinese Taipei (182)  Timor-Leste (185)	Nepal (186)  Macau (186)  Pakistan (188)  Mongolia (194)  Brunei (198)  Bhutan (209)

Summary

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
India	2–0	Nepal	2–0	0–0
Yemen	3–1	Pakistan	3–1	0–0
Timor-Leste	5-1[N 1]	Mongolia	4–1[N 1]	1–0[N 1]
Cambodia	4–1	Macau	3–0	1–1
Chinese Taipei	2–1	Brunei	0–1	2–0
Sri Lanka	1–3	Bhutan	0–1	1–2

Notes

1. On 12 December 2017, Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Mongolia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.

Matches

India	2–0	Nepal
Chhetri 53', 70'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

12 March 2015 (2015-03-12)

19:00 UTC+5:30

Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati

Attendance: 11,200

Referee: Aziz Asimov (Uzbekistan)

Nepal	0–0	India
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

17 March 2015 (2015-03-17)

15:30 UTC+5:45

Dasarath Rangasala Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 10,500

Referee: Khamis Al-Marri (Qatar)

India won 2–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

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Yemen	3–1	Pakistan
Al-Matari 3' Boqshan 56' Al-Sasi 69'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Bashir 67' (pen.)

12 March 2015 (2015-03-12)

18:30 UTC+3

Grand Hamad Stadium, Doha (Qatar)^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 300

Referee: Mohammad Abu Loum (Jordan)

Pakistan	0–0	Yemen
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

23 March 2015 (2015-03-23)^{[note 3]}

18:30 UTC+3

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Isa Town (Bahrain)^{[note 3]}

Attendance: 2,200

Referee: Ali Sabah Adday Al-Qaysi (Iraq)

Yemen won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

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Timor-Leste	4–1 Forfeited[note 4][12]	Mongolia
Quito 4', 7' R. Silva 84' Neto 85'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Batmönkhiin 87'

12 March 2015 (2015-03-12)

16:00 UTC+9

National Stadium, Dili

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Sivakorn Pu-Udom (Thailand)

Mongolia	0–1 Forfeited[note 4][12]	Timor-Leste
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Patrick 9'

17 March 2015 (2015-03-17)

16:00 UTC+8

MFF Football Centre, Ulan Bator

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Wang Di (China)

Timor-Leste won the first leg 4–1 and the second leg 1–0, thus winning 5–1 on aggregate and advancing to the Second round.

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Cambodia	3–0	Macau
Vathanaka 63', 80' Laboravy 90+4'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)

12 March 2015 (2015-03-12)

16:00 UTC+7

Army Stadium, Phnom Penh

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Ho Wai Sing (Hong Kong)

Macau	1–1	Cambodia
Leong Ka Hang 52' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Bin 29'

17 March 2015 (2015-03-17)

20:00 UTC+8

Estádio Campo Desportivo, Macau

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Yaqoob Abdul Baki (Oman)

Cambodia won 4–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

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Chinese Taipei	0–1	Brunei
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Adi 36'

12 March 2015 (2015-03-12)

19:00 UTC+8

National Stadium, Kaohsiung

Attendance: 6,273

Referee: Rowan Arumughan (India)

Brunei	0–2	Chinese Taipei
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Wang Rui 37' Chu En-le 52'

17 March 2015 (2015-03-17)

20:15 UTC+8

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium, Bandar Seri Begawan

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)

Chinese Taipei won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

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Sri Lanka	0–1	Bhutan
	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	T. Dorji 82'

12 March 2015 (2015-03-12)

15:00 UTC+5:30

Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo

Attendance: 3,500

Referee: Fu Ming (China)

Bhutan	2–1	Sri Lanka
C. Gyeltshen 6', 90'	Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Madushan 34'

17 March 2015 (2015-03-17)

16:00 UTC+6

Changlimithang Stadium, Thimphu

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Marai Al-Awaji (Saudi Arabia)

Bhutan won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Goalscorers

There were 24 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match.

2 goals

• Chencho Gyeltshen
• Chan Vathanaka
• Sunil Chhetri
• Chiquito do Carmo^{[note 1]}

1 goal

• Tshering Dorji
• Adi Said
• Khoun Laboravy
• Thierry Bin
• Chu En-le
• Wang Rui
• Leong Ka Hang
• Batmönkhiin Erkhembayar^{[note 1]}
• Hassan Bashir
• Subash Madushan
• Patrick Fabiano^{[note 1]}
• Jairo Neto^{[note 1]}
• Rodrigo Silva^{[note 1]}
• Abdulwasea Al-Matari
• Ala Al-Sasi
• Mohammed Boqshan

Notes

1. This player scored in one of the matches between Timor-Leste and Mongolia that was subsequently forfeited, however FIFA continued to count the goalscorers from those matches in its statistics.
2. Yemen played their home match in Qatar due to security concerns from the 2014–15 Yemeni coup d'état.^[5]
3. Pakistan was originally scheduled to play their home match on 17 March 2015 (15:00 UTC+5) at Punjab Stadium, Lahore,^[6] but it was postponed due to safety and security reasons after the Lahore church bombings and civil unrest in the city.^[7][8] The match was subsequently rescheduled to be played in Bahrain.^[9][10][11]
4. On 12 December 2017, Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Mongolia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.