Panaji: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has informed the governing body for world football about India’s inability to take part in the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup, instead opting to focus on the historic friendly against five-time world champions Brazil.The FIFA ASEAN Cup, where India is one of the guest teams from outside the southeast Asian region, is scheduled to kick off on Sept 24. India are clubbed with hosts Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, with the group winners making it to the Division 1 final on Oct 3, the same day India face Brazil in a much discussed friendly at home.“We are unable to participate in the FIFA ASEAN Cup due to our commitment with the Brazil football federation,” AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey told TOI late on Wednesday. “There were technical issues too since only four games can be played during the window. We have informed FIFA and officials are aware of why we were forced to take this decision.”Explaining the decision, Chaubey said India have played four times in the last three years against Singapore and Malaysia (group opponents at the ASEAN Cup) and may get opportunities to play against them again, but convincing Brazil to play on Indian soil is a dream come true.“Playing Brazil is perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity for Indian players. It’s something that can promote the sport across our country,” said Chaubey.The long FIFA international match window allows countries to play a maximum of four matches. After the ASEAN Cup exit, India have just one confirmed friendly to count upon, against Brazil in Kolkata, but Chaubey said efforts are on to play two more friendlies against quality opposition.Chaubey did not confirm the opponents or the talks with other member associations due to confidentiality clauses, but sources said at least one team has played at the recent FIFA World Cup 2026 in north America.“The ASEAN Cup is an important competition and raised lot of interest. We will miss that, but we will make the best use of this FIFA international window that India can play two more friendly matches against quality opponents, teams who are much higher ranked than India. We can learn a lot from such tough matches,” said Chaubey.According to Article 5.2 of the FIFA ASEAN Cup regulations, “any participating member association that withdraws from the ASEAN Cup no later than 30 days before the first match of the ASEAN Cup shall be fined at least CHF 15,000 (approx. Rs 17.6 lakh) by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.”AIFF officials, however, are confident that they will escape a fine after explaining the situation to FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom in a detailed email.
