Recently, the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) and Iraq (IFA) sent a petition to the World Football Confederation (FIFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to request transparency in the selection of host countries for the 4th qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup - Asia region.
Accordingly, the regulation in the final qualifying round is that the 2 groups will compete at a concentrated location. In each group, there will be 3 teams, competing in a round-robin to calculate points, the top 2 teams of the two groups will win tickets to the final round. Meanwhile, the 2 second-placed teams will play the play-off - the winning team will continue to win tickets to the intercontinental play-off to fight for tickets.
Up to now, Asia has identified 4 teams in the 4th qualifying round of the World Cup as Qatar, UAE, Iraq and Indonesia, the remaining 2 spots will be determined after the 3rd qualifying round ends.
Based on the current situation, the Saudi Arabia team is likely to participate in the 4th qualifying round. In the final match, if they defeat Australia with a score of 5-0, Saudi Arabia will qualify directly for the World Cup.
However, beating Australia with the above result is almost unlikely to happen, so this team is likely to make it to the final qualifying round.
In addition, the remaining spot is a competition between Oman and Palestine in Group B.
In recent days, international media have continuously reported that Saudi Arabia and Qatar will become the host of the two groups in the 4th qualifying round. Of course, they will enjoy a huge advantage when playing at home.
Therefore, the Indonesian and Iranian Football Federations have taken a step to request FIFA and AFC to be transparent in selecting the host country for the 4th qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.
At the same time, both federations also submitted applications to host 1 of the 2 groups based on a time frame and clear regulations. However, everyone must wait for the verdict from FIFA and the AFC.
