Palestine to host World Cup qualifiers in Jordan

ZURICH (Reuters) – Palestine will host this month’s home World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Malaysia in Jordan, soccer’s governing body FIFA said on Thursday.

FIFA announced on Wednesday that Palestine could no longer stage the matches at their 12,000-capacity Faisal Al-Husseini stadium on the Israeli-occupied West Bank for security reasons.

Instead, they will now face Saudi Arabia in Amman on Monday and Malaysia on Nov. 12.

The Saudi team, whose government does not recognise Israel, would have to pass through an Israeli border post to reach the Faisal Al-Husseini stadium in Al-Ram.

The fixture has been the subject of a long-running saga.

Palestine were originally scheduled to host the game in June but their FA agreed to reverse the order of the meetings between the two sides and play the first match in Jeddah with the return on the West Bank in October.

The Saudis subsequently declined to play the fixture in October, saying they could not travel to the Palestinian territories due to force majeure.

On Oct. 21, FIFA announced that the game would be played on the West Bank on Nov. 5 after receiving security guarantees from Palestinian authorities.

FIFA said on Tuesday it had received a letter from the Saudi FA and its Emergency Committee subsequently decided the match be played on neutral territory.

In between, Palestine hosted the United Arab Emirates and drew 0-0.

The first World Cup qualifier to be played on the West Bank was against Afghanistan in 2011.

Saudi Arabia lead the group with 12 points from four games followed by the United Arab Emirates on seven and Palestine on five.

(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Tony Jimenez)