The Indian football team will leave for
Qatar on 19 May after the country accepted the All India Football Federation's
(AIFF) request to allow its players to train there ahead of the 2022 World Cup
Qualifiers next month.
Not only that, Qatar has even agreed to the
AIFF's request to waive the mandatory 10-day hard quarantine after reaching
there. The players will have a preparatory camp of nearly two weeks in a
bio-bubble in Qatar before the first match on 3 June.
"We are planning to fly the team on 19
May evening. There will be no quarantine (of the players) and they will be in a
bio-bubble," AIFF general secretary Kushal Das told PTI on Saturday.
He said the players will assemble in New Delhi and they will be
tested for COVID-19 before their departure to Qatar.
India are already out of the reckoning for a
2022 FIFA World Cup berth but are still in contention for a 2023 Asian Cup spot
in the joint qualifiers. The remaining three matches — against Qatar (3 June),
Bangladesh (7 June) and Afghanistan (15 June) — are crucial for Asian Cup
qualification.
