FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers: India's Group A fixtures

India will kickstart their campaign on November 16.

The Indian National Football Team have been placed in a challenging group for the 2026 FIFA World Cup/AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers on Thursday, July 27. The Blue Tigers will have to play last year’s hosts and champions Qatar, Kuwait and either Afghanistan or Mongolia in their group games.

The final team of their group will be decided at the end of the first round of qualifiers and the winner of game between Afghanistan and Mongolia will be placed in their group. The road to qualifying for the third round of qualification is going to be one with a lot of obstacles for Igor Stimac’s side.

As part of the format, they will be playing their three opponents in the group in a home-and-away-based system. This means they will be playing three games at home and three in the countries of their opposition sides. The qualifiers are poised to begin from 16 November, 2023 and will go on until 11 June, 2024.

Even though the 2026 World Cup will have a 48-team format, affording eight-and-a-half slots for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), India still have to finish in the top two of their group to move ahead into the third round. That means they’ll need to oust either Qatar or Kuwait, who are both considerably better sides.

India can’t take Afghanistan or Mongolia lightly at all, meaning they’ll need to play every single game in the group stages as if it’s a final for them. Igor Stimac’s side has been riding on a surge of impressive form in 2023, but the real challenge will start for them in the form of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers against more prominent oppositions.

With that being said, let’s look at the Fixture Schedule for the Indian National Team for the Round 2 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

Schedule for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers

Matchday 1: Kuwait vs India (Kuwait) – 16 November, 2023

Matchday 2: India vs Qatar (India) – 21 November, 2023

Matchday 3: Afghanistan/Mongolia vs India (TBA) – 21 March, 2024

Matchday 4: India vs Afghanistan/Mongolia (India) – 26 March, 2024

Matchday 5: India vs Kuwait (India) – 6 June, 2024

Matchday 6: Qatar vs India (Qatar) – 11 June, 2024