A total of twelve teams which advanced from the second round (the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up) were divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the two third-placed teams advanced to the fourth round.
The seeding were based on the FIFA World Rankings of April 2016 (shown in parentheses below).[4] The twelve teams were seeded into six pots:[5]
Pot 1 contained the teams ranked 1–2.
Pot 2 contained the teams ranked 3–4.
Pot 3 contained the teams ranked 5–6.
Pot 4 contained the teams ranked 7–8.
Pot 5 contained the teams ranked 9–10.
Pot 6 contained the teams ranked 11–12.
Each group contained one team from each of the six pots. The fixtures of each group were automatically decided based on the respective pot of each team.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the World Cup. Italicised teams qualified for the fourth round.
^ abcdeSyria played their home matches outside Syria due to security concerns from the Syrian Civil War.
^The kickoff of the Syria v Iran match was originally at 20:00 local time but was delayed by 45 minutes due to heavy rain.[7]
^ abcdeIraq played their home matches in Iran due to security concerns from the Iraqi Civil War. However, due to Saudi Arabia's refusal to play in Iran after the attack on their diplomatic missions in Iran, the first match was played in Malaysia.[8] Also, due to United Arab Emirates' refusal to play in Iran after the diplomatic crisis in Qatar, the final match was played in Jordan.
