Asia's World Cup Qualifiers Officially Postponed until June

The AFC said four matches will be held as scheduled on March 25 and 30 at their respective venues, with the remaining rescheduled games to be played in a centralized format from May 31 to June 15.

"The AFC continues to place the health and safety of players, teams... as the highest priority and will work together with its Member Associations to closely monitor the situation in the region," AFC said in a statement.

Games involving 40 nations across eight groups in the current round of qualifying had been due to resume in March after matches originally scheduled to be played last year were suspended due to the pandemic.

The winners of each of the eight groups will qualify for the next phase of Asia's competition to determine the continent's participants at the World Cup alongside the four best runners-up.

Asia has four guaranteed places at the finals in addition to Qatar – the reigning Asian champion – securing its berth in the tournament as host. A further place is available through an intercontinental playoff.

According to the AFC’s decision, the Group C matches will be held at a centralized venue.

Iran is scheduled to play Hong Kong, Cambodia, Bahrain and Iraq, respectively.

New Fixture:

*Iran v Hong Kong, June 3
*Cambodia v Iran, June 7
*Iran v Bahrain, June 11
*Iran v Iraq, June 15

Iran sits third in Group C behind Iraq and Bahrain.