India was on Sunday drawn in a difficult group together with Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Singapore for the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers ultimate spherical matches, starting March 25 subsequent yr. The draw, which noticed 24 groups divided into six teams of 4, was held on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Only the six group winners will qualify for the primary match to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2027 and be a part of the 18 groups who’ve already booked their tickets after the second spherical of qualifying.
The ultimate spherical shall be contested over six match days in a home-and-away format between March 25, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
Aiming to qualify for the third successive time, India will start its Group C marketing campaign at house towards Bangladesh.
India is the highest-ranked workforce within the group at 127, adopted by Hong Kong (156), Singapore (161) and Bangladesh (185). But, they will not be simple opponents.
India has confronted all three opponents within the current previous. The Blue Tigers final confronted Bangladesh (1-1 draw) within the 2021 SAFF Championship, Hong Kong (India received 4-0) within the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers in Kolkata in June 2022, and Singapore (1-1 draw) within the Hung Thinh Friendly Tournament in Vietnam in September 2022.
After the draw, India head coach Manolo Marquez mentioned, “We are a Pot 1 workforce and we have to present why we’re the favourites to qualify. There usually are not too many variations between teams. Every group is troublesome.
“Hong Kong has improved lots with naturalised gamers and with their coach Ashley Westwood.
“We will play towards Bangladesh first in March, who’ve been our common opponents within the SAFF Championship. We know the calendar. We have six video games and we have to prime the group and qualify for the Asian Cup.” India’s fixtures: March 25, 2025: India vs Bangladesh (house) June 10, 2025: Hong Kong vs India (away) October 9, 2025: India vs Singapore (house) October 14, 2025: Singapore vs India (away) November 18, 2025: Bangladesh vs India (away) March 31, 2026: India vs Hong Kong (house).
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