On the cricket pitch, India and Pakistan have not recently faced off against each other. While India will host the ODI World Cup, Pakistan is hosting the Asia Cup this year. The Indian government has warned against visiting the neighboring nation, while Pakistan has reaffirmed that it will not tour India if Team India does not visit. However heated the cricket match may get, there is good news for football fans.
The football squad from Pakistan will travel to India next month. This was confirmed on Wednesday when Pakistan’s team was included in the South Asia Football Federation (SAF) Championship draw. For this competition, which begins on the 21st of the next month, India and Pakistan have been assigned to Group-A. This implies that both teams’ competitiveness is set at the group stage.
When NBT questioned Kalyan Choubey, the head of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), about if Pakistan had accepted to participate in the competition and whether they had been promised visas and enough security, he responded, “Pakistan confirmed and only then his name is placed in the draw. The federation has no business issuing team visas or offering security. Officers from the federation will work with the relevant government departments to coordinate. But he said that no international competition could be held without the consent of the executive branch.
This time, two nations outside of South Asia have also been included in the tournament to increase competition. According to Choubey, the SAFF tournament’s champion and runner-up have historically been seen as having already been chosen. Therefore, this time there are two extra teams involved. These nations are Kuwait and Lebanon. With a 99th-place FIFA ranking, Lebanon is the highest-ranked team taking part in the competition. Pakistan’s team is 195th, whereas India is ranked 101st. Five years ago, India defeated Pakistan 3-1 in their most recent meeting.
Groups
Group A: India, Pakistan, Kuwait, Nepal
Group B: Lebanon, Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan
