By Ogunbayi Beedee Adeyemi October 29, 2025
adeyemi@ddnewsonline.com
The fourth round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has erupted into controversy, with defeated teams accusing hosts Saudi Arabia and Qatar of enjoying an “unfair” home advantage and superior rest periods that tilted the scales in their favor. Oman coach Carlos Queiroz, a veteran of global football with stints at Real Madrid and Portugal, led the chorus of outrage, declaring the format “not fair play” after his side’s elimination.
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“I’ve worked for 40 years in football, and this is not fair play,” the 72-year-old Portuguese tactician fumed in a pre-match press conference ahead of Oman’s decisive 1-0 loss to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday. The draw held in Qatar’s opulent Lusail Stadium in June pitted six nations into two groups of three for a high-stakes round-robin, where group winners secure automatic berths to the expanded 48-team tournament in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Queiroz’s Oman, making their first-ever push for World Cup glory after a gritty 0-0 opener against Qatar on October 8, were undone by the grueling schedule: just three days’ rest between matches in Doha’s sweltering heat, compared to Qatar’s six-day breather. “We play Qatar, then three days later the UAE while Qatar rests and knows our results. It’s a miracle we even competed,” Queiroz told reporters, echoing sentiments from UAE’s Cosmin Olaroiu and Iraq’s Graham Arnold.
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Under FIFA’s guidelines, the mini-tournaments should have been at neutral venues, with hosts drawn randomly or assigned by mutual consent. Instead, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) abruptly named Saudi Arabia as host for Group B (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Indonesia) and Qatar for Group A (Qatar, Oman, UAE) just days before the June 11 draw, bypassing bids from Indonesia, UAE, Iraq, and Oman’s interest.
Saudi Arabia, set to host the 2034 World Cup, and 2022 champions Qatar leveraged world-class facilities like Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City and Doha’s Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. But critics decry the lopsided logistics: Hosts played once midweek, then waited until the following Tuesday, while rivals crammed two games into 72 hours exacerbating fatigue in humid conditions. UAE fans, allocated a mere 8% of seats for their Doha clash (down from 33% in the opener), felt the sting of hostile crowds, with Olaroiu lamenting, “All teams should have an equal chance.”
“It’s no coincidence the teams with six days’ rest qualified,” Arnold blasted after Iraq’s 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia sealed their playoff fate. Saudi Arabia edged Group B on goal difference, while Qatar topped Group A with a 2-1 win over UAE securing their third straight World Cup appearance.
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Ironically, Queiroz hired by Oman in July after a brief, turbulent spell as Qatar coach ending in December 2023 knows the region’s pulse intimately. The two-time World Cup qualifier (with Iran in 2014 and 2018) took the job as a “miracle mission” for the minnows, who sit 79th in FIFA rankings. Despite the setback, he praised his players’ resilience: “We fought with heart against stacked odds.”
The backlash has amplified calls for AFC reform. Indonesia’s federation lodged a formal protest, while UAE’s submitted a dossier to FIFA on scheduling inequities. AFC officials, tight-lipped, cited “logistical efficiencies” but face mounting pressure ahead of November’s intercontinental playoffs, where Group runners-up Iraq and UAE vie for extra spots.
The saga underscores football’s shifting geopolitics, with oil-rich Gulf states wielding influence via mega-investments Saudi’s Public Investment Fund backs Newcastle United, Qatar owns PSG. As Asia’s eight direct slots fill (Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Jordan, Uzbekistan already through), the controversy risks tarnishing the qualifiers’ integrity.
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Queiroz, ever the purist, wrapped his critique with a nod to sportsmanship: “(Even if I was Qatar or Saudi coach) I would feel the same.” For Oman, heartbreak yields to resolve next up, friendlies to build for 2030 dreams. But the question lingers: In football’s grand arena, does wealth trump equity?
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