PETALING JAYA, May 4 — Both the home and away ties between Malaysia and Timor Leste in the first round of the qualifiers for the 2020 Qatar World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup will be held in at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have agreed to the first leg to be played on June 7, instead of June 6 (second day of Hari Raya), and the return leg on June 11, Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Stuart Ramalingam told reporters after officiating the FAM Suparimau Charter, which is a grassroots initiative, at the PKNS Sports Complex here today. 

Timor Leste had to come out with an alternative venue after the Dili Municipal Stadium did not meet certain requirements necessary to host an international tournament.

Timor Leste had previously used the Tan Sri Hassan Yunos Stadium in Larkin, Johor as their ‘home ground’ for the 2019 Asian Cup playoff.

In this edition, Malaysia, who are ranked 168^th in the world and 35^th out of 46 Asian nations, have had to take part in the first round by virtue of being among the 12 lowest ranked teams in the qualifiers.

The six winners of the first round will join the 34 highest-ranked teams in Asia in the next round, including newly-crowned Asian champions and World Cup hosts Qatar. These six first-round matches will be the first 2022 World Cup qualifiers to be played worldwide. — Bernama