Now Reading: India drawn with Maldives, Pakistan in SAFF Championship 2026
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India drawn with Maldives, Pakistan in SAFF Championship 2026
The draw for the 15th SAFF Championship was held in Thimphu, Bhutan, on Saturday. Defending champions India are placed in Group B with Maldives and Pakistan. The tournament will be hosted in…
The Story in Brief
The draw for the 15th SAFF Championship was held in Thimphu, Bhutan, on Saturday. Defending champions India are placed in Group B with Maldives and Pakistan. The tournament will be hosted in Dhaka from November 4-17. India will begin their campaign against Maldives on November 5, followed by Pakistan on November 11. The top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the Indian women's team began their SAFF Women's Championship 2026 campaign in Goa on Monday against Maldives. Ranked 69th in FIFA, India are the highest-ranked side in the tournament. They have a dominant head-to-head record against Maldives, with seven wins and one draw in eight meetings, scoring 68 goals and conceding just one. Coach Crispin Chettri said the competition has become more challenging.
The Indian Opinion
The build-up to India's SAFF campaigns often pits triumphalism against premature dismissal. Both teams are clear favourites, but the women's side has not won the title since 2019, and the men's squad has lost three times to Maldives in history. The real test will not be the group stage, but the semi-finals, where a determined Bangladesh or a possible Nepal side could exploit any complacency. Can India's coaches prepare the team to treat every match as a step towards Asian standards, not just regional dominance?
Sources (2): millenniumpost.in, thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
