Indian football team to play international friendly against Malaysia in Hyderabad on November 18

Hyderabad: The Indian men’s football team will play an international friendly match against Malaysia at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad on November 18.

The international friendly will be India’s fourth match under head coach Manolo Marquez. India have not won a single match under Manolo Marquez yet.

The November 11th to the 19th is the last FIFA international friendly match window for the year 2024. According to FIFA rules, all players, who are a part of the national team, must be present on national duty and their respective clubs are bound by a contract to release the players.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had announced that India would be playing Malaysia in November but gave a tentative date as November 19, 2024. The AIFF did not specify a venue. However, on Wednesday, the AIFF advanced the match date by one day and also announced Hyderabad as the venue.

The AIFF, in a media statement, said: “The FIFA Friendly match between India and Malaysia will be played on November 18, 2024, at Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad, Telangana.”

This will be the second time the Indian team will be playing at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad in the last two months. The Telangana capital city hosted the three-team Intercontinental Cup in which India first played out a goalless draw with Mauritius before losing 0-3 to Syria, the eventual champions.

India’s third international match under Marquez was against Vietnam on October 12. The match ended 1-1.

India will hope to beat lower-ranked Malaysia and end the international friendly season for 2024 on a high and also give head coach Marquez his first win. India are ranked 125th in the world while Malaysia are ranked 133rd. However, the last time the two teams met, one year back at the Merdeka Cup semi final, India had lost 2-4.