Bangladesh-Lebanon match will be held in Qatar

The Bangladesh national football team will play against the war-torn country Lebanon at a neutral venue in the qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup. The match will start at 10 pm Bangladesh time at Al Saad Stadium in Doha, Qatar on June 11. Bangladesh Football Federation (BAFFE) confirmed this information yesterday. Although it is the last match of Lebanon in the selection, it is the fifth match of Bangladesh. Before this, the red-greens played against Palestine in another neutral venue, Kuwait, in the last March’s FIFA window. They will now play against Lebanon at another neutral venue in Qatar in the June window. During the March window, Bangladesh’s Spanish coach Javier Cabrera had Jamal Bhuiyan undergo a two-week training camp in Saudi Arabia. He is not getting a chance to have a long training camp before the June window. Because the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the highest season of domestic football, will continue till May 29. After that, the national team coach can basically start the camp of the national team.
Out of the four matches already played in the World Cup and Asian Cup joint qualifiers, Bangladesh got the only point against Lebanon in the home match. The match was drawn 1-1 at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka on November 21 last year. The previous week, the red-greens were thrashed 7-0 in an away match by Australia. On March 21 this year at the neutral venue Jaber Al Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait, Jamal Bhuiyara lost 5-0 to Palestine in their third match of the qualifying round, but they fought well against them at home. On March 26, Bangladesh lost 1-0 in the return leg match at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in the capital after holding Palestine back for 90 minutes. After these four qualifiers, the remaining two matches will be played against Australia on June 6 at Dhaka’s Bashundhara Kings Arena and the other on June 11 against Lebanon at a neutral venue in Qatar.