FIFA and AFC jointly decides to postpone all upcoming qualifier matches for World Cup and Asian Cup until 2021

The Indian football team will not see any action this year with the Asian qualifying matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday getting postponed to 2021 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Asian Football Confederation postponed all men's qualifiers scheduled in October and November for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup. India's last international match was the joint qualifying round match against Oman in Muscat in November last year, which they had lost 0-1.

Though out of contention for a place in the next round of World Cup qualifiers, India are still in the reckoning for a spot in the 2023 Asian Cup. They were scheduled to play Qatar at home on October 8 followed by matches against Afghanistan (home)



and Bangladesh (away) in November.

A third-place finish in the group will help India get a direct berth in the third round of the qualifiers for the 2023 Asian Cup.

"In light of the current COVID-19 situation in many countries, FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation have jointly decided that the upcoming qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, originally scheduled to take place during the international match windows in October and November 2020, will be rescheduled to 2021," read a joint statement of the FIFA and the AFC.

Both FIFA and AFC stated that the decision was taken keeping in mind the safety of all participants during the COVID-19 pandemic.