In theory, each team will have its own home games, but for some special reasons, there are already five teams playing their home games at neutral venues, they are Afghanistan in Central Asia and Yemen, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon in West Asia.
- Afghanistan
Afghanistan has been in war for many years, and the last time they participated in the qualifying match of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, it was the early stage of the war against terrorism in Afghanistan, and the US-NATO coalition forces carried out a relatively comprehensive military occupation of Afghanistan, which objectively ensured a certain degree of security, so on November 23, 2003, Turkmenistan arrived safely in the Afghan capital Kabul and won 2-0 at the Ghazi stadium, knocking Afghanistan out by a combined score of 13-0 over two legs.
Since then, with the security situation deteriorating, Afghanistan has played its home matches at the 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups in neighboring countries such as Tajikistan and Iran, but by the time of the second stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Afghanistan has played its home games at the Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Stadium is the daily home ground of Saudi football team Dammam Collaboration and Sehat Gulf, with a capacity of about 26,000 people, and commemorates the long-time governor of the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, where Dammam and Sehat are located.
Ii. Syria
The Syrian civil war has been going on for more than a decade, and the Syrian team is currently playing at the Prince Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, whose name honors a man who once served as Saudi Arabia's interior minister and also served as president of the Jeddah National club.
In addition to Jeddah nationals, Jeddah United also has some games in the Prince Mohammed Stadium, their tickets in the league's non-popular matches are very close to the people, the lowest ticket price of only 20 rials, about 39 yuan, which means that with some tickets cheaper than the ticket price, you can see top players from Europe and South America on the scene.
Syria was yesterday (November 21) evening in the Prince Mohammed Stadium by the Japanese team scored five goals and did not score a goal, the referee of the game is from China's teacher Ma Ning, he is Liaoning, working in Nanjing Institute of Physical Education, is a real teacher.
Iii. Yemen
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the Yemenis established the Kingdom of Yemen Mutawakiliya in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, with the political center in Sana 'a, which later developed into the Yemeni Arab Republic, also known as North Yemen; The rest of Yemen was colonized by the British, who established the People's Republic of South Yemen in 1967 and later became the Democratic People's Republic of Yemen in 1970, often referred to as South Yemen or Democratic Yemen, with Aden as its political center.
Gao Fengwen, the predecessor of Chinese football, started his coaching career in South Yemen. He quit as a first-line athlete in 1973 and was sent to South Yemen the following year to assist the local football cause. Our Chinese football aid was earlier than foreign aid.
South Yemen and North Yemen co-existed for decades, and they both qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, but both were eliminated in the first round.
In 1990, with the demise of the Soviet Union, South Yemen and North Yemen merged to form the Republic of Yemen, which soon qualified for the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
Perhaps because Gao had taught South Yemen so well, on May 28, 1993, the Yemeni team won 1-0 against the Chinese team led by Schlapner in Irbid, Jordan, resulting in the Chinese team finishing second in the group (Iraq was first) and being eliminated in the first stage of qualifying.
After a period of poverty and calm in the early 2000s, thanks to long-simmering north-south tensions, bitter sectarian conflicts, and strong outside intervention, Yemen today is playing out a "three-country saga," with the northwest controlled by the Houthis, the southwest by the Southern Transitional Council, and only the east by the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
In this state, it was obvious that it would be difficult for Yemen to host a World Cup qualifier at home, so they set up their home stadium in Abha, Saudi Arabia, at Prince Sultan bin Abdullah Aziz, the 13th son of the kingdom's founding monarch, who was appointed crown prince during the reign of Abdullah (the 10th son of Ibn Saud). However, he died earlier (in 2011) than Abdullah (in 2015), so he was succeeded by the twenty-fifth son of Ibn Salman (the current King of Saudi Arabia).
The Saudis, by far the largest economy in the Arab world, have indeed taken the lead, playing host to Yemen, Syria and non-Arab Afghanistan.
Iv. Palestine
The Palestinian territories are divided into the West Bank (11 provinces) and the Gaza Strip (5 provinces), which do not share a border. Hamas in the Gaza Strip launched an offensive against Israel in early October, which was followed by an Israeli counterattack. Fighting between the two sides has not stopped. The West Bank, though calmer, is not yet in a position to host official international competitions.
Algeria's early offer to host the World Cup qualifiers for Palestine was rejected by both the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA because Algeria is in Africa and far from Asia.
Palestine's home stadium for the second stage of the Asia Zone of the World Qualifiers was finally located in Kuwait's Jaber Ahmed International Stadium, which has a capacity of about 60,000 people and is named after the former head of state of Kuwait and is also the home stadium of the Kuwait national team.
V. Lebanon
The fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has also had a significant spillover effect, with Lebanon also affected to some extent.
At the beginning of last year, when the Lebanese team participated in the third stage of the Asian World Cup 2022 in Qatar, it was still based in Sidon (the fourth largest city). However, at the end of this year to participate in the second phase of the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Asia, the home field changed to the United Arab Emirates, Khalid bin Mohammed Stadium.
The Khalid bin Mohammed Stadium is located in Sharjah and has a capacity of about 5,000 people, it is not Sharjah Stadium, which has a capacity of about 18,000 people.
What do you think of the five Asian teams - Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Palestine - who will not be able to play their home games in the second phase of the World Cup qualifier?
