Saudi Gazette report

AL-AHSA — The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) announced that the country’s national team will face Pakistan national team in the second round of 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on Nov. 16.

The match will be held at Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium of Al-Fateh Club in Al-Ahsa in the Eastern Province. This will be the first match of the Green Falcons in their Asian qualifiers journey for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup.

The Saudi national team said in a statement on its X account: “From Al-Ahsa we begin... The road to the World Cup begins from Al-Fateh Stadium. Our date is Thursday, Nov. 16; Hi, people of Al-Ahsa.”

In its away match, the Saudi national team will play with its Jordanian counterpart on Nov. 21, and then the Falcons will host Tajikistan on March 21, 2024. The two teams will meet again in an away match on March 26 in Tajikistan.

On June 6 2024, the Saudi team will meet Pakistan on their home ground and conclude its matches in the second round of the qualifiers when it hosts the Jordanian national team on June 11.

The Saudi and Pakistani teams have never met in their long history of World Cup qualifiers, and this confrontation will be considered as the first of its kind between the two teams.

The Green Falcons met with Jordan in 13 matches during which the Saudi team clinched six victories while Jordan won five matches, in addition to two draws. The Saudi team won three matches and drew one in its total four matches against Turkmenistan