2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – play-off round

The play-off round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification was played between 7 and 12 October 2021.^[1] It was originally scheduled for 3–8 September, 13 October and 17 November 2020, but the AFC changed the dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.^[2][3]

2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – play-off round

Tournament details
Dates	7–12 October 2021
Teams	4 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	4
Goals scored	10 (2.5 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ten players (1 goal each)
← 2019 2027 →

Format

A total of four teams (the four lowest fifth-placed teams of the Asian Cup qualifying second round) competed in the play-off round. The two play-off winners joined the 22 teams which advanced directly from the Asian Cup qualifying second round to the third round, to compete for the final 11 slots in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

The play-off round was originally supposed to be consisted of 12 teams playing for 2 rounds. Following both Qatar and China's qualifications for the final tournament, the number was reduced from 12 to 4.^[4] The play-off losers would have joined the six teams which lost in the Asian Cup qualifying first round. They were to compete for the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup, which was cancelled.^[5]

Qualified teams

Group (Second round)	Fifth place (worst 4)
A	Guam
B	Chinese Taipei
C	Cambodia
D	—
E	—
F	—
G	Indonesia
H	—

Draw

The draw for the play-off round was held on 24 June 2021, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[4][6] The four teams (Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Guam, and Indonesia) were drawn into two pairings. The team drawn first in each pairing hosted the first leg, and the team drawn second in each pairing hosted the second leg.^[7]

Matches

Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out would have been used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 8.4).^[8]

The first leg was played on 7 and 9 October, and the return leg was played on 11 and 12 October 2021.^[1] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these fixtures were held in neutral grounds, with Bahrain and Thailand hosting these occasions.^[9][10]

Summary

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Guam	1–3	Cambodia	0–1	1–2
Indonesia	5–1	Chinese Taipei	2–1	3–0

Details

9 October 2021 (2021-10-09)

20:30 UTC+3

Guam	0–1	Cambodia
	Report	Vathanaka   26'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Isa Town (Bahrain)

Attendance: 0

Referee: Hussein Abo Yehia (Lebanon)

12 October 2021 (2021-10-12)

18:30 UTC+3

Cambodia	2–1	Guam
Suhana   51' Sokpheng   55'	Report	Mendiola   36'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Isa Town (Bahrain)

Attendance: 0

Referee: Ismaeel Habib (Bahrain)

Cambodia won 3–1 on aggregate.

---

7 October 2021 (2021-10-07)

19:00 UTC+7

Indonesia	2–1	Chinese Taipei
Ramai   16' Evan   48'	Report	Hsu Heng-pin   90'

Buriram Stadium, Buriram (Thailand)

Attendance: 0

Referee: Payam Heydari (Iran)

11 October 2021 (2021-10-11)

20:00 UTC+7

Chinese Taipei	0–3	Indonesia
	Report	Egy   26' Ricky   55' Witan   90+3'

Buriram Stadium, Buriram (Thailand)

Attendance: 0

Referee: Mohammad Arafah (Jordan)

Indonesia won 5–1 on aggregate.

Goalscorers

There were 10 goals scored in 4 matches, for an average of 2.5 goals per match.

1 goal

•   Chan Vathanaka
•   Keo Sokpheng
•   Sos Suhana
•   Hsu Heng-pin
•   Devan Mendiola
•   Evan Dimas
•   Egy Maulana Vikri
•   Ricky Kambuaya
•   Ramai Rumakiek
•   Witan Sulaeman

References

1. "AFC Competitions Calendar 2021" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 24 February 2021.
2. "AFC Competitions Calendar 2020" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 25 September 2020.
3. "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Asia". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 12 August 2020. In light of the current COVID-19 situation in many countries, FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have jointly decided that the upcoming qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, originally scheduled to take place during the international match windows in October and November 2020, will be rescheduled to 2021.
4. "Line-up for AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers Final Round unveiled". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 16 June 2021.
5. . the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 10 September 2020. Archived from the original on 5 October 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
6. "AFC Women's Asian Cup India 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 hopefuls to discover opponents in Qualifiers' Draws". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
7. "Guam to face Cambodia in playoffs, Indonesia drawn against Chinese Taipei". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
8. "8. Qualifiers". Competition Regulations AFC Asian Cup China 2023. 10 September 2020. p. 25. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
9. Rodriguez, Jose (6 August 2021). "Bahrain to host Cambodia vs Guam Asian Cup play-offs". Khmer Times.
10. Adiyaksa, Muhammad (29 September 2021). "Resmi! AFC Setuju, 2 Laga Timnas Indonesia Vs Chinese Taipei pada play-off Kualifikasi Piala Asia 2023 Digelar di Buriram". Bola.com (in Indonesian).

External links

• AFC Asian Cup, the-AFC.com