The Qatar Football Association announced that Al Thumama Stadium will host the World Cup for the Qatari team to face its Kyrgyz counterpart on October 10, in the third round of the third stage of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Qatari team, which won the 2023 Asian Cup, began the third stage by losing to its Emirati guest by three goals in Doha, before tying with its North Korean host in Laos by two goals each, to obtain one point in the first and second rounds.
The Qatari team comes in fifth place in Group A with one point on goal difference from North Korea, while the Uzbek team leads the standings with six points, ahead of the Iranian team, which has the same score on goal difference.
The UAE team ranks third with three points, while the Kyrgyz team remains devoid of points and is in sixth and final place.
The Asian champion is looking to surpass his Kyrgyz guest and enter the competition circle before then heading to the Iranian capital, Tehran, to face his Iranian counterpart on the 15th of the same month, then hosting the Uzbek national team in Doha on the 14th of next November at the end of the first leg.
Al-Adam, led by Spanish coach Bartolomé Márquez Lopez, will begin the return round by facing its Emirati host on November 19, before hosting its North Korean counterpart on March 20, 2025, then facing its Kyrgyz counterpart on the 25th of the same month, and returning to host the Iranian national team on June 5, 2025, and concluding. The third stage will meet the Uzbek national team in Tashkent on the 10th of the same month.
The top two teams in each of the three groups qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup, reserving six of the eight direct seats available to the Asian Football Confederation, while the two teams ranked third and fourth (six teams) move to the Asian playoff, whose matches are held in a round-robin league system. One, so that the first-place finisher in each group qualifies for the World Cup.
On the other hand, the two teams that finished second in the Asian playoff will go on to play a two-legged confrontation, to determine the team that qualifies for the global playoff.