WAFF invites India; national team might play against World Cup teams

In what seems like a promising development, the Indian men's national team has reportedly invited to take part in the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) championship, reports the Times of India.

The original idea was to have the WAFF Championships as a prelude, a preparatory tournament ahead of the Asian Cup 2023. With the postponement of the Asian Cup, the championship hosted by the WAFF will go on as planned. And the Blue Tigers have got a chance to play against some big names!

Some of these names include recent world cuppers like hosts Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who defeated Argentina in that historic match. Other teams that will be taking part are Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Syria, Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, Yemen, and Palestine.

According to the TOI exclusive, the All India Football Federation has already accepted the invite and is awaiting the green signal from the organisers. Initially, there were reports of the national team to play a couple of friendlies in the final week of March, but the federation was unable to find willing nations.

Hence, if India does end up participating in this competition, where they will be promised a minimum of three group stage matches, it will come as a huge boost to the national team and its preparations for the summit clash next year, seeing the lack of games for the Blue Tigers in the recent past.

However, a possible hindrance in Igor Stimac's side performing at a decent level at the WAFF can be the ongoing Indian Super League. The league is set to have its final on 18th March, which means some national team players might have close to no time with their national head coach ahead of the invitational tournament.

According to the AIFF official in the TOI article, coach Stimac was keen on having a longer camp, but his wish seems unlikely seeing the league's playoffs dates.

The draw for the WAFF Championship is reportedly set to take place on 26th January.