On the one-year anniversary of the new regime taking over Indian football, the All India Football Association (AIFF) named Bhubaneswar and Guwahati as hosts for two of India’s three home games in the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the AFC Asian Cup 2027.
After hosting the Intercontinental Cup at Kalinga Stadium in June, Bhubaneswar will host the senior national men’s team for the second time this year when they face AFC Asian Cup champions Qatar on November 21.
While some fans on social media criticized AIFF for not choosing a different venue for the qualifiers following the lukewarm response and less-than-full-house footfall at Kalinga Stadium during the Intercontinental Cup, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik described Saturday’s announcement as a proud moment for the state in a post on X (earlier twitter).
“Proud moment for #Odisha as AIFF (@IndianFootball) has confirmed #KalingaStadium as the venue for India vs Qatar joint qualifier match for #FIFA World Cup 2026 & AFC Asian Cup 2027, to be held in November 2023,” Patnaik said on Facebook.
“This event not only demonstrates Odisha’s love of football, but it also demonstrates our commitment to promoting the sport in the state.” Best wishes to the teams. #OdishaForSports.”
While India, who is in Group A with Kuwait, Qatar, and the winner of the Round 1 qualification game between Mongolia and Afghanistan, will begin their campaign on the road against Kuwait on November 16, they will return home five days later.
They will then face Mongolia and Afghanistan in back-to-back matches in 2024, beginning with an away match on March 21 and returning to the country for the return match on March 26 at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati.
The Sarusajai stadium, located in the Assam capital, has long been waiting for an international match after losing the FIFA U17 Men’s World Cup knockout matches due to poor pitch condition following a couple of days of heavy rain.
When the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup 2020 was postponed owing to the epidemic, Guwahati missed out on a match when the main women’s competition was rescheduled and contested in India 2022.
But, to the surprise of football lovers in the northeast, Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, located in a football-crazy section of the country, has finally been granted an international game.
Meanwhile, AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran congratulated the state associations on the announcement, adding that the venue for India’s third home game will be announced later.
“We would like to congratulate the Football Association of Odisha and the Assam Football Association on successfully bidding for the hosting rights of the aforementioned matches, and we wish them all the success in delivering the said matches at a world-class level with the support of the respective state governments,” Prabhakaran said.
