The AFC first round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was also the first round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification. It was played from 6 to 11 June 2019.
Format
A total of twelve teams (teams ranked 35–46 in the FIFA World Rankings) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
The six losers would have qualified to the 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup, but it was cancelled.
Timor-Leste were banned from qualifying to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, so this only acts as FIFA World Cup qualification for them.
Seeding
The draw for the first round was held on 17 April 2019 at 11:00 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of April 2019. Pot A teams hosted the first leg and Pot B teams hosted the second leg.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the second round. Note: FIFA World Rankings at the time of the draw is shown in (parenthesis).
Summary
The first legs were played on 6–7 June, and the second legs on 11 June 2019.
Matches
Mongolia won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Sri Lanka won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Bangladesh won 1–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Malaysia won 12–2 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Cambodia won 4–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Guam won 5–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.