Doha: Qatar coach Marquez Lopez on Sunday announced a 26-man Qatar squad for the upcoming joint FIFA World Cup 2026 and Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers against the UAE and North Korea. Twice Asian champions Qatar will face the UAE on September 5 in Doha at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium and North Korea on September 10 at the New Laos National Stadium in Laos.   The teams will look to secure the six out of eight spots available for Asia as the top two sides from each group will directly qualify for the World Cup Finals to be staged in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, featuring 48 nations for the first time. The remaining two berths will be decided through the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to 26 Playoff while an additional berth can be secured by an Asian team at an Intercontinental Playoff. THE SQUAD: Meshaal Barsham, Mohamed al-Bakri, Saad al-Sheeb, Salah Zakaria. Abdelrahman Moustafa, Abdulaziz Hatem, Abdullah al-Yazidi, Ahmed Alaaeldin, Ahmed Fathy, Akram Afif, Almoez Ali, Assim Madibo, Bassam al-Rawi, Homam al-Amin, Ibrahim al-Hassan, Ismaeel Mohamed, Jassim Jaber, Karim Boudiaf, Lucas Mendez, Mohamed Waad, Mohamed Ayash, Pedro Miguel, Sultan al-Brake, Tamim Mansour, Tarek Salman, Yusuf Abdurisag.