India Drawn in Same Group as Pakistan for 2023 SAFF Championship

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.

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.

Sri Lanka is not taking part owing to the fact that they are serving a suspension from 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.

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 eight title after beating them 3-0 in the 2021 final.

(More to follow…)