Credit : Football Australia
DOHA, November 13, 2026 – Australia’s second match of this FIFA international window will go ahead in Qatar rather than Jordan, after Football Australia and the Jordan Football Association agreed to move the fixture to Doha, where the Socceroos are already based.
In a statement dated November 13, Football Australia said the change followed a meeting in Amman between Jordan’s acting general secretary, Farah Badarneh, and Football Australia’s chief executive, Martin Kugeler. The Jordanian association accepted the Australian request to relocate the match. Tony Popovic’s side will first face Qatar, winners of the past two AFC Asian Cups, on Friday, November 13, at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, with kick-off at 5.45pm local time (1.45am AEDT on Saturday, November 14). The meeting with Jordan, runners-up at the 2023 Asian Cup, is now due on Tuesday, November 17, also in Doha, with the precise venue and kick-off still to be confirmed.
The official statement does not set out why Football Australia asked for the move, and this report does not supply a reason that the two associations have not given. Kugeler thanked the Jordan Football Association for agreeing to relocate the game and said he knew “how much the Jordan team and fans were looking forward to welcoming the CommBank Socceroos to Amman”. He described the talks as “open, respectful and collaborative”, called the Jordanian side “wonderful hosts” in Amman this week, and said Australia looked forward to welcoming Jordan in future. He also thanked the Australian embassies in Jordan and Qatar, and the Qatar Football Association, for helping to arrange the switch.
Popovic said it was “great to have the second match of this FIFA international window, against Jordan, confirmed” and that the staff had “always been confident that a positive outcome would be reached”. The players, he said, were ready for both Qatar and Jordan. “These are crucial games, as we have limited time together, especially now that the AFC Asian Cup has been rescheduled. This will be our last camp for four months.”
Football Australia noted that the rearranged fixture will be the ninth meeting between the Socceroos and Jordan, and that Australia will, in this window, play both finalists from the most recent Asian Cup. The first of those matches is only hours away in Doha; the second is now a week later in the same city, rather than in Amman. Broadcast of both games, the statement said, will be on Paramount+.
For a national team already in camp in Qatar, the change keeps the squad in one place for two competitive friendlies at the close of a short window. For Jordan, it means a trip to Doha instead of a home match. Popovic’s reminder that this is the last camp for four months, after the Asian Cup was rescheduled, underlines why the staff were keen to keep both fixtures. The two associations have presented the outcome as a cooperative one, and have left the underlying request unexplained in public.
Source : Football Australia, official statement.
Credit : Football Australia
About The Author
