2023 SAFF Championship Draw: India Grouped With Pakistan, Kuwait and Nepal

Hosts India on Wednesday have been drawn with Pakistan as well as India, Nepal and tournament invitee Kuwait, in group A of the 2023 SAFF Championship, to be held in Bengaluru from June 21 to July 4.

Group B has another invited team Lebanon, along with Maldives, Bhutan and Bangladesh in the draw held in New Delhi on Wednesday. The group matches will be played in a round-robin league format and the top two teams in each group will qualify for the semifinals of the eight-nation regional tournament to be played at the Kanteerava Stadium.

SAFF Championship 2023 Draw:

Group A – India, Kuwait, Nepal and Pakistan

Group B – Lebanon, Maldives, Bhutan and Bangladesh

Lebanon and Kuwait, who are not in South Asia geographically, were invited to take part in the 2023 edition to give a more competitive edge to the championship. Lebanon are the highest ranked side in the tournament at 99th while Pakistan are the lowest at 195th. India are the second highest ranked side at 101st.

Sri Lanka is not taking part owing to the fact that they are serving a suspension from the world governing body FIFA, while Afghanistan left SAFF to join the Central Asian Football Federation.

Pakistan are returning to the SAFF fold after they failed to feature in two tournaments out of the 13 editions held so far since 1993. The Pakistan Football Federation could not send its team for the 2015 edition held in India due to internal issues. The country missed the 2021 edition as they were serving a suspension from FIFA. The suspension was lifted last year.

India are record winners of the regional tournament, having won the SAFF Championships eight times. The Maldives, though, are defending champion and has won the title twice while Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka lifted the trophy once each.

Lebanon and Kuwait, who are not in South Asia geographically, were invited to take part in the 2023 edition to give a more competitive edge to the championship.

In 32 India-Pakistan meetings, India have won 19 while Pakistan was have won on just five occasions.

The last time India took on Pakistan on the football field was in the semi-finals of the 2018 SAFF Championship, which India won 3-1.

As for Nepal, the Indian men’s football team lifted their eighth title after beating them 3-0 in the 2021 final.

When India last met Kuwait, it was in an international friendly in 2010 and lost 1-9.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is hopeful that Pakistan players and support staff will get visas to take part in the tournament.

“Pakistan has confirmed its participation in the tournament, that is why they are here in the draw. All the countries of the South Asian region have the right to play in this tournament,” AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said after the draw.

“But things like grant of visas, providing security to the teams, these are not the job of any football federation of any country. The AIFF administration will coordinate with the concerned ministries of the government and we will get the answer with the passage of time.”

AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran told PTI that the Pakistani contingent has already applied for visas to travel to India and the processing of applications has begun.

“We don’t see any issue there. They (Pakistan contingent) have already applied for the visas and processing has begun,” said Prabhakaran, who was also present at the draw ceremony.

Asked if the AIFF has got any assurance from the government for the safe conduct of the tournament, Chaubey said, “The slogan of FIFA (world governing body) is FIFA unites the world through football. AIFF is a member association of FIFA.

“We don’t look at the caste, creed and religion under the FIFA Charter. When a player gets down to the ground wearing his or her national jersey, you don’t look at the caste and religion of that player, the player represents his or her country.

“Moreover, we can’t host an international tournament without permission from the government.”

SAFF general secretary Anwar-ul Huq said that the participating countries have assured the organisers that they will send their first national teams.

“We can assure you that Lebanon, Kuwait and all other participating teams will send their full national teams,” he said.

“We could have brought other countries as suggested by the AIFF, but their national teams were engaged, and we did not want any age-group teams for this tournament.”

(With inputs from PTI)