Recently, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) agreed to adjust the playing time of the two matches of the Indonesian team in Group B of the 4th qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia.
This change was made after Mr. Erick Thohir - President of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) submitted a request because the match schedule was too close, giving players not enough time to recover.
According to the new schedule, the match between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia will take place at 0:15 on October 9 and the match against Iraq at 2:30 on October 12 (Vietnam time). Along with that, PSSI also suggested that the AFC not arrange referees from the West Asian region for the matches of the Indonesian team and this requirement was also approved by the AFC.
The above decision caused the Iraq Football Federation (IFA) to strongly protest. They said the AFC was biased towards Indonesia, at the same time making Iraq's schedule at a disadvantage.
According to IFA, the change in the match schedule has caused the Iraq team to have to play two consecutive matches with high intensity: against Indonesia at 2:30 a.m. on October 12, then against Saudi Arabia at 2:30 a.m. on October 15 - only 3 days apart.
IFA President Adnan dirjal said that both the old and new time options are unreasonable. He proposed another time frame of 8:00 p.m. on October 11 (local time), or 0:00 a.m. on October 12 (Vietnam time) to ensure physical balance for all teams.
The AFC has yet to officially respond to the proposal from Iraq. PSSI has also not commented on the reaction from the opponent. According to Indonesian media, the Iranian side is hoping that the AFC will reconsider the match schedule. If approved, the West Asian team can arrange another friendly match on October 5 to prepare for the official competition stage.