According to the latest news from the official website of the World Football Confederation (WFC), the first round of the Qatar World Cup Asian qualifying round of 12 Group B matches, with Australia hosting China, will start at 2 p.m. local time on Sept. 1 in Sydney. However, the AFC released a message on August 6 that due to the epidemic and the strict epidemic prevention and quarantine measures implemented in Australia, the Australian team will not be able to host international matches in their own territory in the near future. In the face of the tournament's proximity, Football Australia has proposed to the AFC that it would like to move the home tournament of the 12-team tournament to Qatar. Although this request still needs to be approved by the AFC, the Qatar Football Association and other parties, the change could have an impact on China as Australia's first opponent in the 12-team tournament.
It is reported that due to the recent epidemic in some provinces and cities in China, the situation of epidemic prevention is grim, no domestic cities have agreed to host the Chinese national team's 12 strong home matches. The CFA has made every effort to ensure that the "home field" at the same time, but also to develop other response programs, in order to prepare for the team may need to go outside the country to play the home games of the situation.
Since the end of last month, some athletes, coaches and officials of the Australian delegation to the Tokyo Olympics have been leaving Japan and returning to their home country after completing the competitions of their respective Olympic sports. As of the 6th, the epidemic prevention and quarantine measures in Australian entry cities remain strict. Members of the Australian delegation, including athletes who won gold medals and medals at the Tokyo Olympics, are also required to undergo a 14-day medical quarantine for observation upon their return to Australia.
The Australian Football Association (AFA) hopes that the government of Australia will give the green light for the Australian team to participate in the tournament on the premise of complying with the anti-epidemic rules, so as to meet the requirements of the World Football Federation (WFF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) regarding the entry of home and away team personnel and match officials. However, to date, the request has not been approved. Under these circumstances, the Australian team is unable to hold matches in their home country. It is reported that they have submitted a proposal for the team to travel to Qatar for home matches to the AFC this week, and this proposal is likely to be implemented.
As of now, there is also doubt as to whether the Chinese team will be able to play their home matches in their home country for the 12-team tournament. Prior to this, the CFA had listed Shanghai and Suzhou as the preferred candidate cities for home matches for the 12-team tournament, but the recent outbreak of the disease in many provinces and cities in China, some cities in Jiangsu Province and Shanghai have also appeared in confirmed cases, which indicates that the situation of epidemic prevention in China is still serious. In this case, the CFA had to prepare other contingency plans. In other words, if the national football team is unable to play in domestic cities, it may need to travel to third-party member association countries (regions) to play home matches, as in the case of the 40-team tournament.
As a result of the epidemic, there are few third-party member association venues available to the CFA as an alternative. For example, Malaysia, Thailand and other AFC member associations have implemented strict epidemic prevention measures. In this case, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and other countries with its superior international transportation and venue conditions, relatively more suitable as an alternative venue for the national football home games. Among these two countries, the cities in the UAE have a greater possibility of becoming alternative venues for the national football team.
As of the evening of the 6th, the official has not yet announced the specific implementation program of the Chinese team's 12 home games. It is worth noting that the schedule of the 12 tournament is more decentralized, the member associations also in accordance with the "round a report" way to submit their respective teams home games program. Therefore, even if September 7, the second round of the 12 round of China and Japan are forced to play outside the country, does not rule out the possibility that the Chinese team will return to the mainland to participate in the remaining home games. After all, the second home game of the national football team, that is, the match with Vietnam until October 7, the national football team will be able to play in the local game, will depend on the specifics of the epidemic situation in the country.
