ZURICH: Palestine, FIFA has decided finally, must play their World Cup ties against Saudi Arabia and Malaysia in Amman, Jordan.

After a diplomatic saga over venues a FIFA World Cup appeals bureau has ruled that the West Bank is not an appropriate venue because of security concerns.

A FIFA statement said:

Palestine will play their 2018 FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Malaysia at the King Hussein Sport City Stadium in Amman, Jordan.

This decision followed a meeting held in Palestine on Tuesday between FIFA’s security officer and local authorities, after which the Palestinian government confirmed that it could no longer guarantee the safety and security around the matches in question.

With this information, the Emergency Bureau for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers confirmed that the security guarantees could not be compromised and that both matches needed to be played on neutral ground. The Palestine Football Association has now confirmed the venue.

The Palestine-Saudi Arabia match, which was originally scheduled for 5 November 2015, will now be played on 9 November, while the Palestine-Malaysia match will still be played, as planned, on 12 November.

Both matches will kick-off at 16.00 local time.

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