India's 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup joint qualifiers pushed to 2021

Keeping in view the increasing number of coronavirus cases in various countries, FIFA and AFC have decided to postpone the Indian football team's remaining qualifying games. These include the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup as well as for the 2023 Asian Cup. India is one of the worst affected countries in the world with COVID-19 cases breaching the two-million mark. 

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FIFA, AFC joint statement on postponement of qualifiers

The joint FIFA and AFC statement read: "In light of the current COVID-19 situation in many countries, FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have jointly decided that the upcoming qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, originally scheduled to take place during the international match windows in October and November 2020, will be rescheduled to 2021. FIFA and the AFC will continue to work together to closely monitor the situation in the region and to identify new dates for the respective qualifying matches."

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World Cup qualifiers to be played next year 

India was set to host Qatar, the reigning Asian champions on October 8, followed by their fixture against neighbouring Bangladesh away on November 12. On November 17, India was scheduled to host Afghanistan. However, with the decision, the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, as well as the Asian Cup qualifiers, will now be played only in 2021. 

The Indian football team occupy the fourth position in Group E of the qualifier round. Team India have bagged three points from five games so far, and are yet to register a victory. The team began their World Cup qualifiers campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Oman in India, which was followed by a goalless draw in Qatar against the hosts. 

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Then, the Indian football team shared points with Bangladesh and Afghanistan with both the games ending in a 1-1 draw, before losing to Oman in their most recent World Cup qualifier. Each team has only three games left to be played and the Indian football team are out of contention for a direct berth. India will have to finish third in the table to get direct entry in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. 

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Image courtesy: FIFA Media Twitter