Many matches in 2022 World Cup Asian quals postponed

Travel restrictions caused by coronavirus force Asian football body, FIFA adjourn many qualifying round matches

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Many football matches in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifying round were postponed on Friday for travel restrictions that coronavirus causes.

In a statement, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said that it and FIFA "jointly agreed to postpone the majority of the upcoming Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023" amid travel and quarantine restrictions caused by the pandemic.

It added that only four games would be held in March; Nepal - Australia (March 30), Saudi Arabia - Yemen (March 25), Tajikistan - Mongolia (March 25) and
Mongolia - Japan (March 30).

All the rest of the matches in Asia were postponed and they were scheduled to be played between May 31 and June 15.

The Round 2 matches in the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 finals have been discontinued since Nov. 2019 as the virus jolted the globe in 2020.

There are four rounds in the Asian qualifiers for next year's World Cup tournament.

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