Iran – Qatar: The First Battle on the Road to the World Cup - 2003-12-12

Iran's national football team will play its first match in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers against the national football team of Qatar. According to the Iranian Sports News Agency (IPNA), in the first match of Group A of the World Cup qualifiers, Iran, the group leader, will face Qatar on February 18, 2004 (29 Bahman 82). This match will be hosted in our country and, due to a penalty imposed by the confederation, will be held without spectators. Iran's second match will take place on March 31 (11 Farvardin 83) at home against Laos. In the third round of matches, Iran will host the national team of Jordan on June 9, 2004 (19 Khordad 83) at Azadi Stadium, again without spectators. The return matches of this group will be held on September 4 (13 Shahrivar 83), October 19 (17 Mehr 83), and November 17 (26 Aban 83) respectively. The schedule for Group A of the World Cup qualifiers is as follows: First Round; February 18, 2004 (29 Bahman 82) Iran – Qatar (Tehran) Jordan – Laos (Oman) Second Round; March 31, 2004 (11 Farvardin 83) Laos – Iran (Laos) Jordan – Qatar (Oman) Third Round; June 9, 2004 (19 Khordad 83) Iran – Jordan (Tehran) Qatar – Laos (Doha) Fourth Round; September 4, 2004 (13 Shahrivar 83) Qatar – Iran (Doha) Laos – Jordan (Laos) Fifth Round; October 19, 2004 (17 Mehr 83) Iran – Laos (Tehran) Qatar – Jordan (Doha) Sixth Round; November 17 (26 Aban 83) Jordan – Iran (Oman) Laos – Qatar (Laos). It is noteworthy that the top teams from the eight groups in this stage will advance to the final qualifying round, and from February 9, 2005 (20 Bahman 83), they will begin their matches in two groups of four teams to ultimately secure 4.5 spots for Asia.