South Korea will play its first three matches in the final round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup at home. 

The Korea Football Association(KFA) said on Thursday that the opening match with Lebanon slated for September 7 will be held in South Korea while the second match against the Middle East country in January will be played in Lebanon. 

The two matches were initially scheduled to be held in Lebanon and South Korea, respectively. 

The KFA had called on its Lebanese counterpart to switch the venues citing concerns that Korea may be too cold to play in in January. The Lebanese Football Association agreed to the switch and the Asian Football Confederation(AFC) approved the move. 

Team Korea is also scheduled to host Iraq on September 2 and Syria on October 7. 

South Korea is paired in Group A with Iran, Arab Emirates, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Two best-performers in each group will directly qualify for the 2022 World Cup based on the results of home and away matches against one another. 

Third-placed teams in each group will play against each other to determine which team advances to an intercontinental playoff  against a team from a confederation to be determined at a later date.