ISLAMABAD: Tickets for Pakistan’s upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifier Round 2 home-leg match against Saudi Arabia are officially on sale, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) announced on Thursday. 

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will lock horns at the Jinnah Football Stadium in Islamabad on June 6, with the match scheduled to kick off at 8:30 p.m. Pakistan Standard Time. 

Pakistan is in Group G of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tajikistan. The South Asian country will face Tajikistan on June 11 in an away fixture. 

A total of 36 football squads have been split into nine groups with four teams each in the second round of qualifiers. The winners and runners-up from each group would progress through to the third round.

“In a bid to make the event accessible to all football enthusiasts, ticket prices have been thoughtfully set at budget-friendly rates,” the PFF said in a media release, adding that tickets were available at Bookme.pk website. 

It said tickets for the Premium Plus enclosures were set at Rs4,000 [$14.37] while the Premium enclosure tickets were priced at Rs1,500 [$5.39]. The General enclosure tickets are being sold for Rs750 [$2.69]. 

Saudi Arabia thrashed Pakistan 4-0 when the two sides met in November 2023 for their first clash of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Al Ahsa. 

Preliminary Pakistan squad

Goalkeepers: Hassan Ali and Tanveer

Defenders: Haseeb Khan, Mamoon Moosa Khan, Huzaifa, Waqar Ihtisham, Abdul Rehman, Umar Hayat, Muhammad Adeel, Muhammad Saddam and Zain ul Abideen

Midfielders: Yasir Arafat, Alamgir Ghazi, Ali Uzair, Rajab Ali, Moin Ali, Junaid Ahmed and Fahim

Forwards: Adeel Younas, Shayak Dost, Ali Zafar and Fareedullah

The PFF said the names of diaspora players joining the national training camp later would be included in the final squad.

GENEVA: Novak Djokovic on Thursday booked his spot in the Geneva Open tennis tournament semifinals, putting the world No. 1 within two matches of his first trophy of 2024, days before his French Open title defense begins.

Djokovic saw off a first set challenge from Tallon Griekspoor to win 7-5, 6-1 in 77 minutes at the Parc des Eaux-Vives.

Griekspoor, the world No. 27, was the sixth seed at the 28-man Geneva tournament, which serves as a warm-up before next week’s second Grand Slam of the season in Paris.

The Dutchman had three set points against Djokovic in the first set.

“It was a great win. I thought the first set could have gone his way easily because I think he was a better player for most of the first set,” Djokovic said afterwards.

“We could have been having a completely different direction of the match if he converted those set points.

“I was lucky to find some really good serves, and from that moment onwards I really, really played some good, solid tennis.”

It was a bridge too far for Griekspoor, who earlier Thursday finished off his second-round match with Denis Shapovalov, beating the Canadian 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

The match had been called off for the night in the second set on Wednesday due to rain.

Djokovic, who turned 37 on Wednesday, took a wild card to play in Geneva in a bid to rescue an alarming dip in form ahead of Roland-Garros next week.

Djokovic will face Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in Friday’s semifinals.

The pair have only met once before, with Djokovic winning their contest in Dubai last year.

Machac, the world No. 44, will be appearing in his first semifinal on the ATP tour.

He saw off 19-year-old Alex Michelsen of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) in their quarter-final on the Geneva clay.

Friday’s second semifinal will see Norwegian second seed Casper Ruud face Italy’s in-form Flavio Cobolli.

Ruud, the world number seven, was the runner-up in the last two French Open finals, including a defeat to Djokovic last year.

Ruud, at home on the Geneva clay having won the title in 2021 and 2022, beat Argentinian fifth seed Sebastian Baez in a roller-coaster match, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in a two-hour quarterfinal on Thursday.

“It was a tough match against Sebastian. He’s a great player, a great fighter and it was always going to be difficult against him,” Ruud said.

“It was a very close match in the end, back and forth, back and forth. But I’m very happy to be through, back in the semifinals here in Geneva, it’s a great feeling.”

Italian Cobolli, on a career-high ranking of 56, saw off Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko 6-4, 6-4 in the last eight, having knocked out US fourth seed Ben Shelton in the second round.