Asia's World Cup qualifiers postponed until June

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, February 20, 2021
Adjust font size:
Alvaro Silva (L) and Carlos Al Berto de Murga (C) of the Philippines defend Wu Lei of China during their group A match at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 in Bacolod, the Philippines, Oct. 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Du Yu)

A series of Asian qualifying matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup have been postponed until June due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Friday.

The AFC said that it had made a joint decision with football's global governing body FIFA to postpone a series of qualifiers for both the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, which had been scheduled to take place on March 25 and 30.

The decision was made after "taking into consideration the existing travel and quarantine restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic across the continent and following a process of close consultation with Asia's member associations," said Asian football's governing body.

The matches scheduled for March are instead set to be played in June on a centralized basis as part of a rescheduling of the competition.

With restrictive travel and quarantine regulations currently in place, Asian teams have not played any FIFA World Cup qualifiers since November 2019.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
ChinaNews App Download
Print E-mail Bookmark and Share

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)

No comments.

Add your comments...

  • User Name Required
  • Your Comment
  • Enter the words you see:   
    Racist, abusive and off-topic comments may be removed by the moderator.
Send your storiesGet more from China.org.cnMobileRSSNewsletter