Following a request from the Palestinian FA, Algeria claims it has agreed to host the Palestine national team’s next matches, including the World Cup qualifiers.
On November 16, an away match against Lebanon will be played in the United Arab Emirates to open Palestine’s 2026 World Cup campaign in the Asian region.
Five days later, they will play their first “home” game versus Australia, which appears to be taking place in Algeria in North Africa.
The Asian Football Confederation and Fifa must both approve Algeria’s offer to host international matches involving Palestine.
In a statement posted to its website, the Algerian Federation stated: “The president of the Algerian Football Federation, Mr. Walid Sadi, announces that our country will host the official Palestine-Australia match, scheduled for November.”
The decision was made “in accordance with Algeria’s leading authorities,” the statement continued, to host “all official and unofficial matches as part of the Palestinian football team’s preparation for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.”
This year’s African Nations Championship was held in Algeria.
The Algerian federation also stated that it will cover all expenses associated with Palestine’s stay in the nation, including travel and lodging.
Early rounds of the Asian World Cup qualifying for 2026 also serve as qualifiers for the Asian Cup, the primary football event on the continent.
As the tension in the region worsens, the Palestinian Football Association, whose national stadium is located in the West Bank, claims that the Asian Football Confederation has urged it to hold the Australia match in a neutral location.
The team withdrew from the Merdeka Cup event in Malaysia two days before the tournament’s start due to the confrontation with Israel, which had a significant negative impact on the nation’s preparation for next month’s World Cup qualifiers.
Following the Islamist group Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 that claimed more than 1,400 lives, Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes against the Gaza Strip, killing close to 3,000 people, and it appears that they will soon begin a land offensive.
The European Union’s regulatory body, UEFA, has postponed Israel’s 2024 European Championship qualifying matches against Switzerland and Kosovo because to the intensifying tension.
