The All India Football Federation, on Saturday, announced Bhubaneswar and Guwahati as the venues for India’s first two home matches of the Fifa World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 joint qualification second round.
India have been drawn in Group A of the Asian qualifiers alongside Qatar and Kuwait, with the winners of the joint qualification Round 1 fixture between Afghanistan and Mongolia expected to join them.
The Blue Tigers will open their campaign with an away fixture in Kuwait on November 16 before hosting reigning AFC Asian Cup champions Qatar at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar five days later.
In 2024, India will play back-to-back matches against round 1 joint qualification winners, starting with the away fixture on March 21 and then return home to the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati, where they will play the second leg of the fixture on March 26.
The hosts for India’s home leg against Kuwait, which is expected to be played on June 6, will be confirmed at a later date.
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