The Macau football team begins its campaign in the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 for the FIFA World Cup 2026 tomorrow.
The local team will play against Myanmar in Yangon at 5:30 p.m. (Macau time) with the hopes of securing a place in the qualifiers group stage.
Macau is part of a quartet of teams striving to advance from the first round for the first time, along with Brunei Darussalam, Pakistan, and Timor-Leste.
The opening Round 1 fixture will take place at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon, where Myanmar (FIFA rank:160) will begin their fifth qualifying campaign against Macau (FIFA rank:182). The match will mark the 10th time Myanmar has participated, and the team has come out on top in all four previous international encounters.
Myanmar is a clear favorite, given their flawless record against Macau in the previous four matches against Macau. The local team has never been able to score a single goal against Myanmar, conceding 11 times.
Myanmar and Macau are meeting for the second time this year, following a friendly match in June at Taipa’s Olympic Stadium, where Myanmar won 2-nil.
For the double-header against Myanmar, Macau’s national team head coach, Lázaro Oliveira, has enlisted some reinforcements, including Bruno Pereira, Nuno Pereira, a 25-year-old Macau-born Portuguese currently playing for Imortal Desportivo Clube. This is a football club from the city of Albufeira playing at the “Campeonato de Portugal,” being the fourth level of the Portuguese football league.
The only time that the Macau team came close to reaching the next stage of the World Cup Qualifiers was back in 2019, when the local team won 1–0 over Sri Lanka in the first leg in Macau but failed to take part in the second match at the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. The Macau Football Association elected not to travel to Sri Lanka, citing security concerns following the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings.
The second match of this Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 with Myanmar is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 17 October at Taipa’s Olympic Stadium, when it will finally be decided who will enter the group stage.
The winner of the two national teams will secure the final slot in the World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers Group F, which already includes Japan, Syria, and North Korea.
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