(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: Qatar will play an international friendly against hosts Switzerland on November 11, it was announced yesterday.
The match will be part of Qatar's preparation for next year's AFC Asian Cup to be held from January 5 to February 1, 2019.
According to a report posted on QFA's official website yesterday, the international friendly will be part of a training camp to be held in Europe.
Switzerland is one of the teams set to feature at this year's FIFA World Cup in Russia. Switzerland are in Group E alongside Brazil, Costa Rica and Serbia. Ranked sixth in the world, Switzerland are ahead of top European teams such as France and Spain.
Coached by Felix Sanchez, Qatar have already qualified for Asia's premier football tournament for national teams.
Sanchez headed the team that featured in the Gulf Cup tournament in Kuwait last year. Last month, Qatar emerged winners of a Tri-Nation International Friendship Tournament ahead of hosts Iraq and Syria.
This announcement comes in wake of last week's news that Qatar will play in the 2019 Copa America in Brazil after accepting an invitation to take part in the world's oldest continental tournament.
The invitation was accepted by Qatar Football Association President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, who was in Argentina attending the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) congress.
Qatar will host the World Cup in 2022 but are set to test themselves against the five-time winners of that competition Brazil, as well as two-time champions Uruguay and Argentina, in South America three years prior.
South American governing body CONMEBOL announced last month that three teams from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), in which Qatar play, will be invited along with three other nations from either the rest of the Americas or the Caribbean.
Qatar are seeking to play competitive matches before hosting the World Cup in four years' time.
Qatar were previously invited to play in the 2011 Copa America, but could not take part because of prior commitments.
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