Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Monday announced that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 joint qualification round two matches have been postponed amid coronavirus fears.
The qualifying matches were scheduled to be played in March and June 2020.
India was slated to host Asian champions Qatar at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on March 26, 2020.
"FIFA and AFC will discuss further details of the postponed matches and communicate in due course," the AFC said in its official letter as quoted by All India Football Federation (AIFF).
In June, the Blue Tigers were scheduled to play against Bangladesh in Dhaka on June 4 and then against Afghanistan in Kolkata on June 9.
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The AFC further mentioned that, "Participating Member Associations' (PMA) may still play the matches in March and June 2020 upon mutual agreement, provided the safety and health concerns of all individuals involved met the required standards, subject to prior approval by FIFA and AFC".
"AFC and FIFA will continue to assess the situation and decide whether further changes to the schedule of the Preliminary Joint Qualifiers Round two are required with the aim of protecting the well-being and health of all individuals concerned," it added.
