Indian football team set to play 15 international matches in 13 months

Mumbai, May 23: The Indian national football team is set to play 15 internationals - including eight at home - in a 13-month period, including some which have already been held, the All India Football Federation announced today (May 23).

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"All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its marketing partners, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), have shared the national football team's yearly fixtures beginning March 2017 wherein the India National Team will play 15 competitive games including 8 matches in India (March 2017-March 2018)," AIFF stated today (May 23).

"All the international fixtures will be broadcast live on Star Sports and its digital platform, Hotstar," it said.

India's next international is a friendly against Nepal here at the Andheri Sports Complex on June 6 followed exactly seven days later by the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifier game against Kyrgyzstan at Bengaluru.

"Followed by the Champions Cup in August, the team returns to its AFC Asian Cup qualifier campaign as they play the last team in the group, Macau in the away leg on September 5, 2017," AIFF said.

"The national team will take part in two training camps between October 2017 to November 2017 where they also play the home games of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Macau (October 10, 2017) and Myanmar (November 14, 2017).

"India National Team will also come together for additional friendly games at Home on October 4, 2017, November 8, 2017, and March 22, 2018, against teams yet to be confirmed. The last match of the AFC Asian Cup qualifier will be played in an away leg against Kyrgyzstan on March 27, 2018," the AIFF said.

"The national team played a total of 6 games that included 4 home games in the same duration last year," it added.

India have already played and won 2 games in March - the friendly against Cambodia and AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Myanmar.

"With a clear focus to increase home games, AIFF recently launched the annual multi-country Champions Cup to be played by 4 countries including India in August 2017.

"The competition will be held from August 18-27, 2017 where the team will play 4 games provided they reach the finals," AIFF said further.

PTI