Qatar to host Bangladesh’s Group E fixtures

Bangladesh will play their Group E fixtures for the joint qualifiers of the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar.

Following a process of close consultation with Asia's Member Associations, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Friday confirmed that the centralized venues for the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and AFC Asian Cup China 2023™ matches are scheduled to take place from 31 May to June 15, 2021. 

Qatar will welcome the opponents of Group E consists of Oman, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh, sitting bottom with one point from five matches in Group E, lost to Qatar 5-0 away from home in December last year. 

While BFF had wanted to host the remaining three Group E fixtures at home, the coronavirus pandemic meant the decision to host the matches in a centralized venue was prioritized, Bangladesh has played four of their Group E fixtures away from home, with only their 2-0 defeat to Qatar in October 2019 being their only match at home in this joint qualifiers. 

China PR will host Group A which comprises leaders Syria, Philippines, Maldives and Guam with Kuwait confirmed as the host for Group B which includes Australia, Jordan, Nepal and Chinese Taipei.

Bahrain will stage the matches in Group C which features table-toppers Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Hong Kong and Cambodia, while Saudi Arabia have been selected to hold the matches in Group D, which includes the likes of Uzbekistan, Singapore, Yemen, and Palestine.

Japan is set to provide the stage for the matches in Group F comprising Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Myanmar and Mongolia.

The United Arab Emirates has been selected as the host for Group G, which consists of ASEAN challengers Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia while Korea Republic will stage the matches for Group H, which include leaders Turkmenistan, Lebanon, DPR Korea and Sri Lanka.