New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS): The All India Football Federation on Saturday announced Bhubaneswar and Guwahati as the venues for the first two home matches of India in the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2.

India have been drawn in Group A of the Asian qualifiers, alongside Qatar, Kuwait, and the winners of the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 fixture between Afghanistan and Mongolia.

The Blue Tigers will open their campaign against with an away fixture in Kuwait on November 16, 2023, before hosting reigning AFC Asian Cup champions Qatar at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, on November 21, 2023.

The following year, India will play back-to-back matches against Afghanistan or Mongolia, starting with the away fixture on March 21, 2024, and then return home to the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati, where they will play the second leg of the fixture on March 26, 2024.

AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran said, after the announcement, “We would like to congratulate Football Association of Odisha and Assam Football Association on successfully bidding for the hosting rights of the aforementioned matches, and wish all the success for delivering the said matches at a world-class level with the support from the respective state governments.”

The hosts for India’s home leg against Kuwait on June 6, 2024, will be confirmed at a later date.