India to begin Asian Cup qualifiers preparation from Mar 14 coach Marquez seeks longer camp

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) India football team will begin its preparation for the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers with the national camp from March 14, two days after the last league match of the Indian Super League.
     On the eve of the draw, India coach Manolo Marquez, who is yet to taste success in four matches after taking over from Igor Stimac, gave the proposal for a "longer camp" to the All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey.
     "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 said in a statement.
     "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," the 56-year-old Marquez stated.
     The draw for the final round draw will take place on Monday at 12.30pm IST.
     India, placed in pot 1, will be grouped with 24 teams into six groups of four.
     Matches will follow a home-and-away round-robin format from March 2025 to March 2026.
     India's first match, against a pot 4 team, would be a home match on March 25.
     "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," stated AIFF president Chaubey.
     Marquez also held discussions with the technical committee members, the AIFF technical director Syed Sabir Pasha and members of the federation's scouting team.
     India played out a 1-1 draw against Malaysia in their last match.
     The Blue Tigers have qualified for the AFC Asian Cup five times, including the last two editions in 2019 and 2023.
     However, the Stimac-coached side had a disappointing campaign in 2023, losing all three group matches without scoring a single goal.
     In 2019, India ended a 55-year winless drought with a victory over Thailand but failed to advance past the group stage.
     Their best performance to date has been in 1964 when they finished runners-up in a four-team round-robin format.
     In 1984, India managed just one point in the group stage, and in 2011, they returned after 27 years but lost all group matches despite qualifying as 2008 AFC Challenge Cup winners.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)