India likely to play World Cup finalists Croatia in a friendly next year

09/24/2019

The Indian football team could get to play one of their biggest matches in recent times if AIFF manages to execute their plans to perfection and fix a date with 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia. AIFF general secretary Kushal Das held initial talks about the matter during his visit to Zagreb.

Football legend Davor Sukar, now the president of the Croatian Football Federation, had hosted top officials of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) including Kushal Das, Abhishek Yadav and Indian National Team coach Igor Stimac at the Croatian capital. It was during the meet that the governing bodies initiated plans of playing a friendly next year.

“This was our first meeting. It was good. Croatia is a very strong team with their youth development and produced so many great footballers. They made it to the World Cup final too. There is a possibility of playing friendlies, but we will have more clarity in November when we meet again,” said Kushal Das to The Times of India.

As per sources, Stimac is willing to play Croatia in March next year, during the international between March 23-31. Croatia are currently ranked eighth in the FIFA Rankings and has some of the World’s topmost players. On the other hand, India just slipped to the 104th spot a few days back.

India’s next international fixture is against neighbours Bangladesh on October 15, in Kolkata.