Saudi Arabia was drawn to Iraq and Indonesia in the fourth phase of Asia’s preliminaries for the 2026 World Cup Thursday with consecutive winners of the Asian Cup in Qatar against the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
The winners of each group with three teams, which will be played in October, will join Australia already qualified, Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Iran and Jordan in the extended 48 nations of next year in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Saudi Arabia, which is trying to qualify for a seventh World Cup final since 1994, will welcome group A and open against Indonesia on October 8.
Indonesia will then play Graham Arnold’s Iraq on October 11 before the Saudis and Iraq oppose October 14.
Group B welcomes Qatar, the organizers of the 2022 World Cup but who never qualified for the finals, will face Oman in their first game on October 8. The United Arab Emirates will face the Omanis on October 11, with Qatar and the water meeting on October 14.
The nations ending in second place in each group will move to another series of qualifications, which will be held on two legs in November at home.
Asia has obtained eight berths guaranteed in the final. A ninth possible berth is available for the November match via an intercontinental eliminatory in March.
(Tagstotranslate) Football