AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The head coach of the Senior Men’s National Team, Manolo Márquez, was in the capital for two days recently (December 5 and 6) and held a series of meetings at the Football House on India’s preparations for the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers.

Apart from meeting the AIFF President Shri Kalyan Chaubey, the 56-year-old Spanish coach also held discussions with the Technical Committee members, the AIFF Technical Director Syed Sabir Pasha and members of the AIFF scouting team.

On Monday, December 9, the draw for the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers Final Round will be held at 12:30 pm IST. India are placed in Pot 1 for the draw, which will split 24 teams into six groups of four each. The matches will be held in a round-robin format on a home-and-away basis from March 2025 to March 2026. As per the schedule, India, as a Pot 1 team, will play their first match on March 25, 2024, at home against a Pot 4 team.

Márquez has given the proposal to hold a preparatory camp of a longer duration before India start their AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers campaign on March 25. After consulting its marketing partners, the AIFF felt the National camp could begin on March 14, two days after the last league match in the Indian Super League 2024-25.

The AIFF President Shri Chaubey said: “The qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup is our main target. The AIFF will do everything as per the plan submitted by the head coach.”

Márquez said: “For two days, I had fruitful meetings with the AIFF President, senior officials and technical members of the AIFF. I am sure with the kind of preparations we have planned, the National Team will do well in the Asian Cup qualifiers.”