With the dust settling on the group draw for the Asian Zone 12 of the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers, there are only a few months to go before the first match fills the air, however, a sudden epidemic has left the home of the national soccer team still up in the air.
AFC Secretary General Windsor John recently made it clear that the 12-team tournament must follow FIFA's rules for international match days and must not use the conference system, with only the home-and-away system being feasible. He is also counting on the tournament to be able to welcome fans to cheer on the field.
Originally, the National Football Association (NFA) intended Suzhou to be the home of the Top 12 matches. In the previous China-Korea Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the National Football League Top 40 Tournament, Suzhou's performance won the FA's recognition, and fans watched the matches in good order. However, under the epidemic, Suzhou has to host both the July and August Chinese Super League matches, but also to cope with the September to November AFC Cup matches, the intensive use of venues, lawn maintenance difficulties, making the National Football Association had to reconsider.
Therefore, Shanghai became the alternative. In both the China-Korea Women's Olympic Qualifier and Top 40 matches, the visiting teams entered the country through Shanghai Pudong International Airport and closed the loop and transferred to Suzhou. If Suzhou is unable to meet the demand for the 12-team tournament, Shanghai is undoubtedly an ideal choice, and the just-completed Shanghai Pudong soccer stadium is expected to become the new home stadium. But all of this, not the National Football Association can dictate.
A lesson learned from the previous experience, the sudden transfer of the national football team's home ground to the UAE for the 40-team tournament has made the National Football Association (NFA) more cautious in choosing a home ground. Windsor John also said that teams must find neutral venues if they are unable to host home matches. The AFC recently issued a notice requiring participating associations to report their home stadiums by July 16 and need to prepare a neutral venue as a backup.
Teams are eager to retain their home ground, but the outbreak could disqualify some teams from that status. According to AFC regulations, visiting teams are required to be quarantined for a maximum of 48 hours after entry, in accordance with the government policy of the country and region in which they are located; if this period is exceeded, the home venue will be disqualified.
