The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has been informed of the plan of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to hold the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 / AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 Group A matches to another location from Suzhou, China PR.
The Philippine Men’s National Team was supposed to take a chartered flight from its training base in Doha, Qatar to Shanghai, China on Monday, 31 May 2021.
As a requirement before taking that flight, the delegation underwent two RT PCR tests in the last 72 hours, the results of which all returned negative.
With the developments, the Azkals have been told to stay put in Doha, while waiting for an official announcement from the AFC.
The cancellation of the Group A matches in China PR has left a huge financial impact on the PFF as it needed to cancel the chartered flight at the last minute.
While the PFF remains hopeful for an agreement among the Participating Member Associations (PMAs), China PR, Guam, Maldives, and Syria on the venue as well as the schedule of the matches, the federation stresses the importance of the health and safety of everyone involved in the competition.
The Philippines was slated to face Guam on 03 June 2021, China PR on 09 June 2021, and the Maldives on 15 June 2021.
