The Indian football team will take on Syria and Mauritius in the Intercontinental Cup 2024 to be played at the newly-renovated GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad from September 3 to 9.
All the matches of the Intercontinental Cup 2024 men’s football tournament will be available on live streaming and telecast in India.
The Intercontinental Cup 2024 will mark a new chapter for the senior Indian men’s football team for more than one reason.
The hosts will be without long-serving Indian captain Sunil Chhetri, who retired in June. And this will be the first assignment for the newly-appointed Indian football’s head coach Manolo Marquez. Marquez replaced Igor Stimac.
India enter the competition after facing a heart-breaking exit from the second round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in June. The Intercontinental Cup will act as a preparatory tournament for India ahead of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.
Syria, 93rd in the latest FIFA rankings, are the highest-ranked team in the tournament followed by India at 124th. Mauritius, who stand at 179th, are participating in the Intercontinental Cup for the first time.
The format of the Intercontinental Cup 2024 will see all three teams play each other in a single-legged round-robin format. The winners of the stage will be declared champions.
Márquez has named a 26-member squad for the tournament. Chinglensana Singh Konsham and Yasir Mohammad are back for the first time since the 2023 Tri-Nation Series. Defenders Asish Rai and Roshan Singh Naorem return after a year-long hiatus.
A senior India debut will be on the cards for Kiyan Nassiri Giri, Lalthathanga Khawlhring and Prabhsukhan Singh Gill.
This will be the fourth edition of the Intercontinental Cup, which began in the place of the Nehru Cup in 2018. The inaugural campaign was played in Mumbai and the Indian team emerged champions after defeating a superior Kenyan side 2-0.
The next edition was held in Ahmedabad in 2019, when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea won, beating Tajikistan 1-0 in the final. The 2023 edition in Bhubaneshwar saw India regaining the crown by defeating Lebanon 2-0 in the final.
| Date | Match | Time |
|---|---|---|
| September 3, Tuesday | India vs Mauritius | 7:30 PM |
| September 6, Friday | Syria vs Mauritius | 7:30 PM |
| September 9, Monday | India vs Syria | 7:30 PM |
Indian Squad for the Intercontinental Cup 2024:
Head Coach: Manolo Márquez