The Lebanon national football team arrived in Dhaka on Friday at 8:30 a.m. to play their second match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Bangladesh.
The West Asian country played their first match against Palestine in the joint World Cup 2026 and Asia Cup 2027 second round in Group I at neutral venue Sharjah Stadium, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday. Lebanon shared points with Palestine after a goalless draw. The match was scheduled to be played in Beirut, but the turbulent situation due to the current Israel-Hamas war forced the Asian football authority and FIFA officials to shift the match to Sharjah.
Lebanon will now face off against hosts Bangladesh at Kings Arena Stadium on November 21. While the men in red and green were scheduled to reach home from Australia on Friday night, The visitors are scheduled to start the team’s first training session on Saturday evening. According to FIFA rules, the away team must be present 48 hours before playing the match in a host country. The Lebanon team is here in the city four days ahead of their match to adjust to the local conditions.
In their head-to-head record, Lebanon is ahead of Bangladesh, as the former has won two and the latter has won one match so far.
Bangladesh first played against Lebanon in the FIFA World Cup qualifying match at the Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium in Beirut on July 23, 2011, and the hosts defeated Bangladesh by 4-0.
In the reverse fixture, Bangladesh took revenge by winning the home match 2-0 against Lebanon at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on July 28, 2011. The two teams met in their last match in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship in India. Lebanon won over Bangladesh by 2-0 at Sree Kanterava Stadium, Bengaluru, on June 22, 2023.
