Manolo Marquez holds meetings with AIFF top brass with Asian Cup 2027 as main target

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The head coach of the India Senior Men’s National Team, Manolo Marquez, was in the capital for two days on December 5 and 6 and held a series of meetings at the Football House on India’s preparations for the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers.

“For two days, I had fruitful meetings with the AIFF President, senior officials and technical members of the AIFF. I am sure with the kind of preparations we have planned, the National Team will do well in the Asian Cup qualifiers,” said Marquez to AIFF.com

Apart from meeting the AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey, the 56-year-old Spanish coach also held discussions with the Technical Committee members, the AIFF Technical Director Syed Sabir Pasha and members of the AIFF scouting team.

“The qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup is our main target. The AIFF will do everything as per the plan submitted by the head coach," The AIFF President said

On Monday, December 9, the draw for the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers Final Round will be held at 12:30 pm IST. India are placed in Pot 1 for the draw, which will split 24 teams into six groups of four each. The matches will be held in a round-robin format on a home-and-away basis from March 2025 to March 2026. As per the schedule, India, as a Pot 1 team, will play their first match on March 25, 2024, at home against a Pot 4 team.

Marquez has given the proposal to hold a preparatory camp of a longer duration before India start their AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers campaign on March 25. After consulting its marketing partners, the AIFF felt the National camp could begin on March 14, two days after the last league match in the Indian Super League 2024-25 season.