The rapidly escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and Houthi forces in Yemen could deny Tony Popovic the chance to end his tenure as Socceroos coach on a high, as Football Australia braces for the postponement of the tournament that was shaping as his swansong.
Popovic signed a short-term contract extension on the eve of the World Cup earlier this year, keeping him in the job until the end of January’s AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.
But the increasing Houthi missile and drone attacks on the kingdom – including a strike on Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday that killed at least 13 people and another on the headquarters of state-owned oil giant Aramco on Tuesday – have raised questions over whether the tournament can go ahead as planned.
Asian Football Confederation president Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has forecast the possibility that the Asian Cup could be pushed back by 12 months and held in 2028, rather than being moved to a different country at short notice – the first such comments by an AFC official.
With other AFC nations and global players’ union FIFPro also expressing their concerns, key figures at FA believe a postponement of the Asian Cup is the most likely scenario, and are working through the flow-on effects for the Socceroos and Popovic’s immediate future.
The team’s promising recent performances against Brazil suggest they are a genuine contender to winthe Asian Cup, having been knocked out in the quarter-finals in the last two editions since lifting the trophy in 2015.
But external forces may rob Popovic – who won the AFC Champions League with the Western Sydney Wanderers in 2014 – of the opportunity to become the first coach to win both of Asia’s biggest trophies in club and international football.
Popovic’s contract, according to sources familiar with the ongoing conversations at FA, ends on a specific date rather than the end of the Asian Cup, and therefore will not automatically extend if the tournament takes place at a later date.
It remains to be seen what FA will do if the Asian Cup is moved to 2028, and if they will seek clarity from Popovic on his future plans.
Popovic has not yet formally indicated to FA his intentions beyond his current deal, having already turned down a long-term extension that would have kept him in the job until the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
Until he makes his position clear, sources say FA will not begin speaking with possible replacements, although two obvious candidates stand out: Kevin Muscat, whose contract with Shanghai Port expires at the end of this year, and John Aloisi, whose Chengdu Rongcheng side is poised to dethrone Muscat’s team as Chinese Super League champions this season.
All concerned will remain in limbo for the time being, with Salman telling reporters in Zurich that the AFC is in “no hurry to make a decision”.
“We can wait until the end of November. Things can change very quickly for better or worse in the region, and it is a question of seeing what happens,” he said.
“If we need to make a decision then we will, but we could move back a year to 2028 if we need to. But at the moment we are monitoring the situation and everything is on schedule.”
While the Saudi Pro League is continuing for now, Al-Nassr’s match in the AFC Champions League Elite against Neftchi Fergana on Tuesday (AEDT) was delayed because of a missile threat in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
The Six Kings Slam tennis tournament, featuring the likes of Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Alex De Minaur, was due to begin next week but has been moved to December due to travel and safety logistics.
The prospect of an all-out regional war, with Qatar’s Emir warning the nation’s citizens to prepare for the “worst possibilities”, could also threaten Australia’s two friendlies next month against Qatar and Jordan in the Middle East. FA is working on contingency plans for alternative opponents and venues should those not be able to proceed, according to sources.
The Australian government updated its travel advice this week, advising citizens to reconsider their need to travel to Saudi Arabia, exercise extreme caution if travelling through airports and to avoid the Riyadh airport entirely, as well as three southern provinces on the border of Yemen.