Asian Football Confederation Qualification (AFC)

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) section of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification sees 43 teams competing for 4 or 5 berths in the final tournament in Brazil. 43 of the 46 AFC national teams entered qualification. A ranking list for the qualification rounds was released by AFC on 8 March 2011, with an updated list released due to the non-participation of Guam and Bhutan.

The rankings determined the round of qualification that teams began competition:

Teams ranked 1–5 (the teams that competed in the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals and the intercontinental play-offs) do not compete in the qualification rounds, and automatically qualify for the first group stage (drawn in Brazil in July 2011).
Teams ranked 6–27 (other teams that advanced past the first round in 2010 qualification, plus the three first round losers with the 'best' results) receive a bye to the second round of qualification.
Teams ranked 28–43 enter at the first round.

First Round: The first round consisted of eight home-and-away series, featuring the 16 lowest ranked teams in Asia. The winners of these series proceeded to the second round.                                 

Second Round: The second round consisted of fifteen home-and-away series, featuring the 8 winners from the first round and other 22 teams ranked 6–27. The winners of these series then proceeded to the third round.                                                                                                          

Third Round: The third round saw the 5 automatic qualifiers joined by the 15 winners from the second round. These teams were drawn into five groups of four teams, at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 30 July 2011. The matches were played from 2 September 2011 to 29 February 2012. The top two teams from each group advanced to the fourth round.                                                                                                                         

Fourth Round: The fourth round saw the group winners and runners-up from the third round play in two groups of five. The top two teams from each group advanced to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, while the two third-placed teams advance to the fifth round. So far, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Iran have qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.                                                                    

Fifth Round: The two teams who finished third in the fourth round groups (Jordan and Uzbekistan) played each other to determine the AFC participant in the intercontinental   play-off. The draw for the fifth round of the AFC qualifiers was held in Zürich on 19 March 2013 during meetings of the Organizing Committee for the FIFA World Cup. The games took place on 6 and 10 September 2013. With the two teams still evenly matched at full time in the second leg, Jordan eventually progressed to the intercontinental playoff after winning 9–8 on penalties.