King’s Cup | India to face Curacao in their opening game
The Indian football team will take on Curacao on June 5 in their first game of the upcoming King’s Cup which will be played in Buriram, Thailand. Hosts Thailand will play Vietnam in the other game on the opening day of the competition and the final is scheduled to be held on June 8.
The first assignment for the new Indian men’s football coach is going to be the King’s Cup which is going to be held in Thailand next month. Ever since the exit of former Indian coach Stephen Constantine following India’s AFC Asian Cup campaign in the UAE, this will be the first international competition for the Blue Tigers.
Ranked 82 in the FIFA rankings, Curacao will be the first challenge for the Indian side, which is ranked 101, in the tournament in June. In the other game on the opening day of the competition, hosts Thailand, which is also the lowest-ranked team at 114 in the tournament, will meet Vietnam, who are ranked 98.
The winners of the first two games will meet each other in the summit clash while the two losing teams will battle it out for the third-place finish in the tournament.
The King’s Cup will be the first such occasion after 2001 in which the Indian men will play an invitational overseas FIFA Ranking tournament. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had last sent the men’s team for Merdeka Tournament in Kuala Lumpur in 2001. India had earlier also played in the King’s Cup way back in 1977 and 1981.