São Paulo – This Tuesday (15), Qatar opened ticket sales for the qualifiers for the Arab Cup of the International Football Federation (FIFA). Matches will occur in two stadiums, one of them being the Khalifa International Stadium, to host matches of the 2022 World Cup, to take place in the Arab country next year. The other stadium in the qualifiers is Jassim Bin Hamad, which is not on the World Cup venue list.
From June 19 to 25, Qatar will host seven qualifying matches for the Arab Cup. The stadiums, however, will have only 30% of the capacity available. A series of restrictions to watch the games, such as being 12 years old or more, being vaccinated against or having recovered from COVID-19 in the last nine months, wearing a mask, adhering to social distancing, and using the Ehteraz infection control app by the local healthcare sector.
The qualifiers will kick off with a match between Libya and Sudan this Saturday, June 19. Oman and Somalia will play on June 20, Jordan and South Sudan face-off on the following day, June 21, Mauritania and Yemen take the field on June 22, Lebanon and Djibouti on June 23, Palestine and Comoros on June 24, and Bahrain and Kuwait on June 25. The matches will start at Khalifa International Stadium and intersperse with Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, always at 8:00 pm AST.
All winners qualify for the group stage of the FIFA Arab Cup, to take place in Qatar later this year. The top nine teams in the region, according to FIFA World Rankings, have an automatic bye to the group stage; Qatar (host), Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and the UAE.
The information above was published on the website of the Qatari newspaper, The Peninsula. The Arab Cup is expected to function as a test run for the 2022 World Cup and will use not just the Khalifa International Stadium but six of the country’s eight venues for the global football tournament. Khalifa Stadium has already hosted other important football matches after its renovation works for the World Cup, being the first stadium for the competition to be completed.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
