Jordan plays Palestine as teams prepare for U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers

AMMAN — Jordan’s U-23 football team hosts Palestine on Thursday in the final week of preparations ahead of Group A qualifiers kicking off as of September 4 for the AFC U23 Asian Cup in Qatar in April 2024.

Jordan will host their qualifying group in Amman playing alongside Syria, Oman and Brunei as the team eyes an Olympic qualifying spot for the first time.

The qualifiers will see teams playing in 11 groups with the top team from each group together with four best second placed teams advancing to the U-23 Asian Cup from which the top four teams move to the Olympics.

Jordan’s team coach and officials have acknowledged the lineup has not had the best preparation agenda with the team not having enough time to regroup as well as minimal friendlies played against Lebanon, Bahrain, Palestine and the U-20 national team. This year, Jordan reached the semis of the U-23 West Asian Championship, which they won in 2021  but did not play in the 2022 edition. 

Meanwhile, Jordan’s new senior national team coach Moroccan Hussein Amouta has named an initial lineup which is set to play two upcoming friendlues against Norway on September 7 and Azerbaijan on September 12. 

At the 23rd World Cup 2026 qualifiers set to kick off in October, which also serves as qualifiers for the Asian Cup 2027, Jordan was drawn in Group G alongside Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and the winner from the Cambodia/Pakistan match.

The coach is set on advancing Jordan to the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, as Asia will get 8 slots in the next edition in additional to a zonal qualifier after expanding the number to include 48 nations. Jordan also hopes to play for  an advanced spot in the upcoming Asian Cup 2023 slated for Qatar in January 12, 2024, where Jordan will play in Group E alongside Bahrain, Malaysia and South Korea.

This year, Jordan’s U-20 team were eliminated from the quarterfinals of their 6th Asian Championship. 

In the U-17 Asian Cup Jordan hosted Group A qualifiers for but failed to advance.

This season, the women’s squads had unsuccessful results. The senior team was eliminated in Olympic qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Games.  The U-20 women were knocked out in qualifiers for 2024 AFC U-20 Women’s Asia Cu. Similarly, the U17 team were knocked out in qualifiers for the 2024 AFC U-17  Women’s Asian Cup.