Football Australia is scrambling for alternatives to an upcoming friendly in Amman, with Socceroos players remaining unwilling to travel to Jordan for the fixture scheduled for November 18.
The Socceroos are first set to face Qatar in Doha on Saturday (AEDT), with both the senior men's team and the Joeys currently in camp in the city ahead of their respective matches and tournament campaigns.
PFA boss Beau Busch said last week that Socceroos players had "overwhelmingly expressed their view that the Jordan match should be rescheduled or relocated." The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Jordan "due to the unpredictable security situation" and the "threat of terrorism."
Football Australia had been keen for the Jordan game to proceed but has said it was monitoring the security situation in the area. The friendlies against Qatar and Jordan were originally arranged as preparation for January's Asian Cup, though the tournament's postponement to December 2027 because of conflict in Saudi Arabia has reduced their significance.
FA chief executive Martin Kugeler and football director Heather Garriock flew to Doha this week, along with Busch and men's head of player relations Jon McKain. Players are not expected to back down and agree to play in Jordan, which would likely leave cancellation or relocation as the remaining options.
- Staying in Qatar and playing Jordan in Doha, though this is understood to have met with some reluctance from both the Qatari and Jordanian football associations
- Playing the fixture somewhere in southern Europe
- Cancelling or postponing the match altogether
Jordan has already had to deal with Indonesia pulling out of a friendly during this international window.
Coach Tony Popovic, due to speak to media at his pre-match press conference on Thursday night, has indicated no players would be blacklisted from future selection if they withdrew from his squad for security reasons.
Separately, US Soccer has withdrawn its team from the under-17 World Cup in Qatar over safety concerns, telling players in a letter that it was cancelling its pre-tournament camp and participation "in light of current circumstances," citing the US State Department's Level 3 travel advisory for Qatar and related directives for embassy staff and families. That decision is not expected to affect either the Socceroos or the Joeys, with the Joeys not expected to follow the US in withdrawing and the Socceroos understood not to have issues with being in Qatar.
