New Delhi, July 30 (SocialNews.XYZ) India's senior men’s national team, as part of their preparation for the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers Final Round, will participate in the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Nations Cup 2025, scheduled to be held from August 31 to September 8.
Central Asian Football Association has invited India to take part in the tournament after Malaysia withdrew from the tournament, which is outside the official FIFA calendar, due to logistical challenges and the unavailability of players.
India have been drafted into the biennial Central Asian tournament, jointly hosted by Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and have been placed in Group B, which will be played in Dushanbe. India will play hosts Tajikistan on August 29), Iran on September 1) and Afghanistan on September 4.
The top two teams from each group will progress to the play-off stage, which will see two matches being played on September 8. The third-place match will be played between the two group runners-up in Dushanbe, while the two group winners will play the final in Tashkent.
Group A will be hosted by Uzbekistan, who are drawn alongside Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan, and Oman in Tashkent.
CAFA has six members — Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kygryz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Oman and India are the two invited sides for the second edition of the CAFA Nations Cup. IR Iran are the defending champions, having beaten Uzbekistan 1-0 in the 2023 final.
India suffered a heartbreaking 0-1 away defeat to Hong Kong in their first match AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers Final Round. India's four remaining fixtures are away and home to Singapore (October 9 and 14, respectively), away to Bangladesh (November 18) and at home to Hong Kong, China (March 31, 2026).
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz