The Indian national football team’s friendly against Belarus, scheduled for March 26, will be cancelled because of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Belarus, bordering the two warring nations, is also facing sanctions from global sporting bodies for aiding Russia in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
India was scheduled to play Bahrain and Belarus on March 23 and 26 in Manama, Bahrain, but will now opt out of the latter game because of the International Olympic Committee’s suggestion that Russian and Belarussian players and teams be excluded from international events.
The double-header is supposed to help the national team prepare ahead of the Asian Cup qualifiers in June, but the AIFF secretary Kushal Das has told The Indian Express that both matches could be played against Bahrain.
“Since Belarus has been suspended, we can’t play them,” Das told the paper. “We have a match with Bahrain so we are trying to see if we can organise two matches with them.”
India’s match against Belarus was to be the first one against a European nation since February 2012, when India lost to Azerbaijan.
India is currently ranked 104 in the world rankings, while Belarus is ranked 94 and Bahrain 89.
