Asian Cup tune-up: India to face China friendly

The Indian senior national team will participate in the scheduled FIFA October 2018 window for an International Friendly against China, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) confirmed on Friday.

India, ranked 97^th, (as per June FIFA Rankings) will travel to Beijing to play against the 75th ranked (as per June FIFA Rankings) China national team during October 8-16, 2018 FIFA window. “Though the date for the Friendly will be decided in coming days, AIFF has proposed Saturday, October 13, 2018 as the match day,” AIFF said in a statement.

India and China have faced each other 17 times, each time on Indian soil. The last time the senior sides from two countries met was 21 years ago for the Nehru Cup in Kochi in 1997. However, recently, the India under-16 national team visited China for an invitational four-nation tournament which also included under-16 Thailand and under-16 DPR Korea.

"With an eye on the preparation for the Asian Cup, as a coach, I couldn’t have asked for anything better than an opponent like China. I am sure the boys will make the best of the opportunity presented to us and look forward to test ourselves ahead of the AFC competition.,” said national coach Stephen Constantine

India, though, are yet to win a match against China. In the past 17 matches, 12 have gone in favour of China while the rest five were drawn.

“China and India are today being seen as the two fastest emerging football markets, globally. We are happy to have come to the conclusion of our month-long discussion with the Chinese FA, and I thank our marketing partners FSDL for their involvement and cooperation,” General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das said.