Listed below are the dates and results for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for Asia. The Asian Football Confederation was allocated four and half qualifying berths for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, South Korea and Japan, the co-hosts, qualified automatically, leaving two and half spots open for competition between 40 teams. Myanmar withdrew from the tournament after being placed in Group 2 but before any matches had been played, therefore reducing the group to 3 teams. Afghanistan, Bhutan and North Korea chose not to participate. Asia's two remaining automatic qualifying berths were taken by Saudi Arabia and China. Iran defeated United Arab Emirates for the chance to become the possible third Asian qualifier, but lost to Ireland in the inter-continental play-off.

Format

There were three rounds of play:

First round

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8

Group 9

Group 10

Second round

Group A

Group B

Play-off

Inter-confederation play-offs

Qualified teams

The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

Top goalscorers

Below are full goalscorer lists for each round: