A total of 36 teams were drawn into nine groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches. They included the 26 teams which received byes to this round, and the 10 winners from the first round.[3]
The draw for the second round was held on 27 July 2023 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[5]
The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of July 2023 (shown in parentheses below). The identities of the first round winners were not known at the time of the draw.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the third round of World Cup qualifying.
† Teams whose identity was not known at the time of the draw. ‡ Team moved to Pot 3 after the other Pot 4 teams had been drawn into groups; subsequently drawn at random from Pot 3.
^ abcAfghanistan played their home matches at a neutral venue due to the ongoing Afghan conflict.
^ abThe hosting duties for the matches between North Korea and Syria were swapped on 2 November 2023.[6]
^ abcSyria played their home matches at a neutral venue due to the ongoing Syrian civil war.
^Japan were awarded a 3–0 victory by forfeit, after North Korea refused to host the match due to "a malignant infectious disease" spreading in Japan.[8][9]
^ abFollowing the incident over North Korea's refusal to host home game against Japan, North Korea played their home matches in a neutral ground, per Syria's request.[10]
^ abIndonesia and Philippines swapped their fixtures on 31 October 2023, due to Indonesia hosting the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup.[11]
^ abcYemen played their home matches at a neutral venue due to the ongoing Yemeni civil war.
^ abNepal played their final two home matches at a neutral venue due to the Dasharath Rangasala failing to meet FIFA standard.[13]
^ abLebanon played all their home matches at a neutral venue due to the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.[14][15]
^ abcPalestine played all their home matches at a neutral venue due to the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.[14][16]
^ abBangladesh was originally scheduled to host Palestine on 21 March 2024 with Palestine hosting the return fixture on 26 March in Kuwait. However, the order was later reversed due to Kuwait hosting Qatar also on 26 March.[17]
^Lebanon played this home match in Australia due to the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.[18]
