The Asian qualifying competition for 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup was an extraordinary men's futsal competition that determines two of the five national teams which are members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) playing in the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania, which was originally scheduled to be held in 2020 but postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
The five AFC teams playing in the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup would originally be determined by the 2020 AFC Futsal Championship, with the top five teams qualifying. Following the cancellation of the championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AFC announced on 21 April 2021 that they agreed to two sets of criteria of establishing the AFC representatives for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup. The first criterion took reference from the top five teams of the most recent edition (2018), while the second criterion applied a point system which calculates the top five teams from the overall ranking of the last three editions of the AFC Futsal Championship (2014, 2016, 2018).[2]
The top five teams for 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup Asian qualifying in each criterion
Based on the results of combined criteria, the top three recurring teams (Iran, Japan, and Uzbekistan) were directly nominated as the AFC representatives for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Additionally, the four remaining teams: Iraq (although had not qualified for the 2020 AFC Futsal Championship formerly), Lebanon, Thailand, and Vietnam would play play-off matches over two legs. The two winners would qualify for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup.[1][2] Although all matches were eventually played at a neutral venue, the away goals rule would still be applied.