The planned release of Tony Popovic’s Socceroos squad for this month’s friendlies has been delayed amid mounting pressure on Football Australia to relocate their match against Jordan, with players strongly opposed to travelling to the country over security fears.
Professional Footballers Australia has called for the November 17 match in Amman to be moved to another venue or date, after Indonesia withdrew from its own scheduled friendly in the Jordanian capital, citing concerns for player safety.
The developments come amid heightened regional tensions and renewed violence within Jordan, where a security officer was stabbed to death in a suspected terrorist attack in Amman on Thursday, less than two weeks after nine people were killed when gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a church in the country’s south.
Football Australia was on Friday due to unveil Popovic’s squad for two games against Qatar and Jordan. They were originally booked as warm-up fixtures ahead of the AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, which was set to take place in January but has been postponed until December 2027 .
The squad announcement will occur over the weekend, an FA spokesperson confirmed to this masthead - but the chances of the window unfolding as scheduled appear to be increasingly unlikely.
While the Jordan Football Association said in a statement that their match against the Socceroos is “still scheduled to take place, without any changes”, the PFA says Australia’s players are reluctant to travel to the country, which borders Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.
Those players are comfortable playing in Qatar next Saturday (1.45am AEDT) - one of only two Middle Eastern nations, along with the United Arab Emirates, in which the Australian government’s travel advice is at level two, which means to exercise a high degree of caution.
Jordan, by contrast, is at level three, with Australians advised to reconsider their need to travel there.
Football Australia’s executive director of football, Heather Garriock, told this masthead on Wednesday that players who did not want to participate in the matches could remove themselves from selection without consequence.
But according to sources familiar with the situation, not authorised to comment, it remains unclear if players would be able to be selected if they were willing to play in Qatar only, or if all players in the squad due to be revealed over the weekend would need to be open to playing in both.
“The PFA has worked with Football Australia over recent weeks in relation to security concerns regarding the upcoming assembly and engaged its own independent security experts,” said PFA chief executive Beau Busch in a statement to this masthead.
“With the full support of the PFA, the players have overwhelmingly expressed their view that the Jordan match should be rescheduled or relocated.
“We are committed to working with FA to reach a sensible solution.”
Qatar and Jordan were finalists from the last Asian Cup, and were viewed as ideal opponents for the Socceroos in their preparation for the next edition of the tournament.
The postponement has not only thrown those plans into disarray, but raised questions over the future of Popovic , who signed a short-term contract extension earlier this year which officially ends in March.
To remain in the job for the 2027 Asian Cup’s new dates - which take place over the Christmas and New Year’s period to avoid Ramadan, which begins on January 28, 2028 - Popovic and Football Australia will need to agree terms on a new contract, whether it be another 12-month term or encompassing the full World Cup cycle through to 2030.
Garriock has set a Christmas deadline to sort out Popovic’s future, warning that other coaches were “knocking on the door” - including, sources say, Kevin Muscat, who shapes as their primary target if Popovic decides to step away from the Socceroos.
Muscat’s contract with Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port expires at the end of the year, and the former Melbourne Victory and Yokohama F. Marinos title-winning coach has long held ambitions of steering the national team, who he represented on 46 occasions.
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