Majority of Asia’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers in March postponed to May and June

Majority of Asia’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers in March postponed to May and June due to Covid travel restrictions, with the race now on to complete the second round of qualification before June 15 deadline after no games in over a YEAR

  • Travel restrictions have caused most of Asia’s World Cup qualifiers to be delayed
  • Qualifiers due to be played in March have been pushed back to May and June
  • No games in the second round of qualification have been played in over a year
  • The race is now on to finished the qualification round before June 15’s deadline 

The majority of Asia’s 2022 World Cup qualifying matches in March will be postponed to May and June due to likely logistics problems due to the coronavirus pandemic, it has been announced.

The Asian Football Confederation confirmed the rescheduled plans on Friday with the exception of four matches, which include Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia’s qualifying games.

‘Taking into consideration the existing travel and quarantine restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic across the continent, the AFC and FIFA have jointly agreed to postpone the majority of the upcoming Asian qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,’ the AFC said in a statement.

The majority of Asia’s 2022 World Cup qualifying matches in March have been postponed

Australia's game with Nepal is just one of four qualifiers now going ahead next month

Australia’s game with Nepal is just one of four qualifiers now going ahead next month

There are four games that will go ahead. On March 25, Saudi Arabia will host Yemen in Riyadh while Tajikistan and Mongolia will also play. Five days later, Mongolia will travel to Tokyo to take on Japan and Australia heads to Nepal.

The last matches in second round of qualification took place in November 2019 due to multiple postponements due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. 

The race is on to finish the second round of qualification, with most of the 40 teams involved having four games remaining before the current deadline of June 15.

The AFC said it has been working with member associations grouped together to help them make their own arrangements and play out the remaining games in one venue.

The winners of the eight groups in the second round, along with the four best-performing second-place teams, will progress to the third round of qualification which is scheduled to start in September.

Race is now on to finish second round of Asia's 2022 World Cup qualifiers before the deadline

Race is now on to finish second round of Asia’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers before the deadline

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