Doha, October 2 (QNA) – Spaniard Bartolomé Márquez Lopez, coach of the Qatari national football team, announced today the list of players selected to play in the matches against Kyrgyzstan and Iran scheduled for the tenth and fifteenth of this October in Doha and Tehran, within the first group of the third and decisive qualifying round. For the 2026 World Cup finals hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The list witnessed the addition of a number of new players and the return of others after their absence from the matches between the UAE and North Korea in the first and second rounds due to injury.
The Spanish Lopez summoned Al-Ahly goalkeeper Marwan Sharif and Nayef Al-Hadrami, the Al-Shahania player, in addition to the return of Al-Gharafa striker Ahmed Al-Janahi, Boualem Khoukhi, Al-Sadd defender, and Al-Mahdi Ali, Al-Wakrah defender.
The list of the team that won the 2023 Asian Cup witnessed the return of Al-Wakrah player Abdulkarim Hassan to the national team after an absence, while it was devoid of the names of Al-Duhail midfielder Karim Boudiaf, his teammate Hammam Al-Amin, Al-Wakrah goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Bakri, and Al-Sadd defender Pedro Miguel.
Coach Lopez kept some young players, such as Ibrahim Al-Hassan, the Spanish Calhora player, Abdullah Al-Yazidi, the Al-Sadd player, and Mohamed Ayyash, the Al-Duhail player.
The Qatari national team will take part in its training sessions at the Aspire Sports Excellence Academy stadiums, in preparation for the confrontation against its Kyrgyz counterpart, which will be hosted by Al Thumama World Cup Stadium on October 10.
The coach summoned a list of 27 players, which included four goalkeeping players: Marwan Sharif (Al-Ahly), Saad Al-Shaib (Al-Sadd), Mishal Barshim (Al-Sadd) and Salah Zakaria (Al-Duhail).
The list also included Abdulaziz Hatem (Al Rayyan), Bassam Al Rawi, Al Moez Ali, Ismail Muhammad, Muhammad Ayyash, Edmilson Jr., Sultan Al Buraik (Al Duhail), Ibrahim Al Hassan (Calhora, Spain), Abdul Rahman Fahmy (Al Ahly), Lucas Mendes, Al Mahdi Ali, and Abdul Karim Hassan ( Al-Wakrah), Akram Afif, Abdullah Al-Yazidi, Youssef Abdel-Razzaq, Tariq Salman, Boualem Khoukhi, and Muhammad Waad (Al-Sadd), Ahmed Fathi, Jassim Jaber, Ahmed Alaa (Al-Arabi), Ahmed Al-Janahi (Al-Gharafa), and Nayef Al-Hadrami (Al-Shahania).
The Qatari team, which won the 2023 Asian Cup, began the third stage by losing to its Emirati Alex Reed 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 Alex Reed 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 begins 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 returns to host the Iranian national team on June 5, 2025, and concludes the third stage with a meeting with 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.
