TEHRAN – Iran match against Cambodia at the 2022 World Cup qualifier will likely be postponed due to coronavirus concerns.

The outbreak of coronavirus and the canceling or reducing flights between countries especially in Asia have led many sports events to be postponed or to be held behind closed doors.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has postponed several Champions League matches and rescheduled the women’s Olympic qualifier between China and South Korea.

Now, it seems that the 2020 World Cup qualifiers might be affected by coronavirus concerns.

Hong Kong’s Soccer chief Pui Kwan-kay said it was “highly unlikely” that Hong Kong’s World Cup Asian zone qualifier against Iran next month will go ahead because of the coronavirus outbreak, but hoped to clear the air with governing bodies as to whether the clash can go ahead.

Hong Kong is expected to visit Tehran’s 78,000-seat Azadi Stadium for the away World Cup match on March 26 before returning for their home tie against Iraq in the Group C qualifiers five days later.

Meanwhile, Iran national team must go to Cambodia to meet the country’s national team on March 31 but this game is also unlikely to happen because there is no direct flight from Iran to Cambodia and due to the fact that calls for closing borders have grown louder and that many countries have closed their borders with Iran, there will be high costs for the Iranian Football Federation to send Team Melli to Cambodia.

Iran has four must-win games ahead in the 2022 World qualifiers against Hong Kong, Cambodia, Bahrain, and Iraq.