The All India Football Federation (AIFF) today confirmed that the JN Stadium here will host two India international matches in March – a FIFA friendly against Maldives on March 19 and an AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifier against Bangladesh on March 25.
An Asian Football Confederation (AFC) match commissioner had inspected the stadium and a training facility on the NEHU campus last month and found them both largely satisfactory.
Both international matches will kick off at 7pm on their respective dates, the AIFF said on its website today.
India have been drawn in Group C of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers final round, alongside Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangladesh. The teams will play each other twice in a home-and-away round-robin format until March 2026. The group winners will make it to the Asian Cup tournament proper.
This is the first time that the JN Stadium will host senior men’s international matches after the stadium was refurbished last year. The 15,100-seater arena has hosted matches in domestic tournaments and leagues, like the Durand Cup last year and Indian Super League just last week.
The pre-renovation stadium, with an artificial grass surface, also hosted I-League matches over several seasons, the Indian Women’s League final round in 2018, AIFF’s U-18 Youth League final round in 2018, plus the women’s football event at the 2016 South Asian Games.
