1st Round (League System)
The first round of the Asian preliminary competition will be staged in 10 groups of four teams each. The first round is played in a round-robin.

2nd Round (League System)
The 10 group winners will be divided into two groups of 5 teams. The winners of the two groups will qualify directly for the Final Competition of the 2002 World Cup Korea/Japan. The draw will be held after the first round when the teams qualifying for the second round are known.

3rd Round (Cup System)
The two teams which are runners-up in the two second round groups compete in a play-off on a home-and-away basis to qualify for the play-off with Europe/UEFA.

The nine runners-up of UEFA will be put into one pot. Four European play-off pairings (home and away) will be drawn. The winners qualify for the final competition of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.] The remaining European runner-up will contest the play-offs (home and away) against the third place AFC team. The winner will qualify for the final competition of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.