India football: Blue Tigers drawn in Group D of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers

The Indian national football team along with Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and Cambodia have been drawn in Group D for the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers at the draw which took place earlier today.

24 teams have been divided into six groups and will feature in a single leg round-robin qualifiers in a centralised venue and will fight for 11 vacant spots for the AFC Asian Cup 2023, China, with India recently announced as one of the six co-hosts for the qualifiers which is scheduled to take in June this year.

The Blue Tigers head coach, Igor Stimac had last week expressed his excitement to play the qualifiers at home and was hoping that spectators will be allowed to watch the games.

“We are very happy … we need to prepare in the best possible fashion, and pray that the fans get an opportunity to be with us at the stadium, and cheer us to victory,” Stimac said in a release from the All Indian Football Federation.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) confirmed that the India national team will play two international friendlies against Bahrain and Belarus on March 23 and 26, respectively in preparation for the qualifiers and it will be interesting to see how they perform in the qualifiers in the future.