How did Qatar and Saudi Arabia get home advantage and more rest than rivals in World Cup qualifiers?

Over the next eight days six Asian nations will battle for two 2026 World Cup places and it feels as if Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already a little closer to North America.

The two countries have been handed home advantage for the games in the two mini-groups by the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) with the winners of each qualifying. The decision, announced in June without revealing any selection criteria, left their opponents understandably upset. Indonesia, Iraq, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) expressed interest in hosting themselves or requested neutral venues and also called for transparency and fairness in the decision-making process but to no avail.

In addition both home teams have six days between their games while opponents have to play within 72 hours of their first game.

Oman, outsiders in Group A, have never made it to the World Cup and in July hired Carlos Queiroz, a man who definitely has. The 72-year-old has qualified with South Africa, Portugal and Iran twice but doing so with Oman would be his biggest achievement yet. “It would be a miracle in this complicated situation,” Queiroz tells the Guardian and goes on to question the decision to give Qatar home advantage in the group. “Are there no stadiums in Japan or Kuwait where we could play? Maybe the people who organised this have a different vision of football.”

There had been rumours that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were going to be chosen even before the AFC made the announcement in June. Talk to officials around Asia and there is general disbelief that the Saudis were not told to play in Qatar and vice versa. The Guardian has approached AFC for comment but they have not responded.

“I knew the situation when I took the job,” says a phlegmatic Queiroz. “What can we say? We have to play at the home of one of the teams that is competing. They put the Saudis in Saudi and Qatar in Qatar. If they can’t see that something is wrong with this, then who are the players and coaches to make comments?”

The schedule is another point of contention. Oman have to play Qatar on Wednesday and UAE on Saturday whereas the hosts have almost a week to prepare for their second game. The situation, remarkably, is mirrored in Saudi Arabia where the hosts have six days between their two games.

“We play Qatar and we play again three days later, Qatar play six days after, and they already know the result and what they need to do,” says Queiroz. “This has never happened before. The people that made the regulations didn’t think about this and did not pay attention.

“When there is a World Cup, there is always a host and that we can understand: they pay for it, build the stadiums and all the rest. But to do this in the middle of the competition, it is strange that the people in charge don’t feel uncomfortable with this.”

Oman, meanwhile, have another disadvantage with five players based overseas. “We have players in Bangkok who play Sunday but the Fifa days only start Monday so they travel then, arrive on Tuesday and play Wednesday,” Queiroz says. “I have been asking the chefs here how to make an omelette without eggs.”

Geopolitics are also playing a part. Indonesia have written to Fifa and the AFC after learning that their game against Saudi Arabia will be officiated by a Kuwaiti. “We want a referee who is truly neutral, possibly from Europe or elsewhere, someone who has no stake in the region,” the national team official Kombes Sumardji told reporters. In addition Indonesia were due to play Kuwait in a friendly on 5 September but that was – say Indonesian officials – cancelled without a reason.

Queiroz will come up against another former Real Madrid manager in Julen Lopetegui, who took charge of Qatar in May. The coaches are an eclectic mix with Hervé Renard back in charge of Saudi Arabia, Patrick Kluivert leading Indonesia and Graham Arnold, who started the previous round of qualification in charge of Australia, now with Iraq.

Six teams have already qualified from Asia – Japan, Iran, South Korea and Australia as well as the two debutants, Uzbekistan and Jordan. The likelihood is that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are about to join them.