Indian Football Team Rival Watch: Maldives

The Red Snappers have only won thrice in head-to-head meetings against the Indian Football Team.

The Indian football team are set to play their first international match of 2025 on March 19, when they host the Maldives football team at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong. The game will serve basically as a preparatory clash ahead of the start of the Blue Tigers’ 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh.

Head coach Manolo Marquez will be able to witness the match sharpness and performance level of his key players before the Bangladesh game. It could also be treated as a litmus test for new strategies and getting the players to understand his philosophy better. With all the factors at play, the Blue Tigers can expect a pretty challenging clash against the Red Snappers.

The Indian Football Team have arrived in Shillong for the March international window! #IndianFootball #IndianFootballTeam #BlueTigers #IndiavsMaldives pic.twitter.com/JTsV44Il1L

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) March 14, 2025

The Maldives team have some promising players at their disposal and are a pretty rugged, stubborn defensive unit. Here are some things that you need to know about the Maldives national team before this upcoming clash.

About the Team

The Maldives national football team have been a FIFA-recognised international team for just over 45 years. They started playing at the international stage in 1979, and there have been quite a few ups and downs for the Red Snappers in their nearly five-decade-long history.

Even though the Maldives football team didn’t achieve much success in their first few years, they gained a reputation in the Southeast Asian scene in 1984. They won the bronze medal at the South Asian Games, and kept performing strongly in that competition. The Red Snappers also won the silver medal in the 1991 South Asian Games.

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After that, the Maldives’ majority of success came in the SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) Championship. They finished as the runners-up in their debut in the competition in 1997, before finishing in third place in the tournament (held in India) in 1999. In fact, from 1997-2018, Maldives would at least get to the semi-finals of each SAFF Championship.

In 2003, they finished as the runners-up by losing to Bangladesh in the final. They won their first-ever SAFF Championship in 2008, winning the final against India. Their second SAFF Championship win came a decade later, when they also ousted the Blue Tigers to clinch the tournament.

While they have done well in regional competitions, the Maldives are yet to impress at the continental stage. They have never qualified for an AFC Asian Cup edition, let alone a FIFA World Cup. They have failed to ever break into the top-100 of the FIFA World Rankings, with their highest-ever place being 124 (from July-August in 2006).

Recent Performances

The Maldives football team only played two international matches in the calendar year of 2024. They couldn’t qualify for the AFC Asian Cup, hence had to miss out on the action in the early months of the year.

Both their matches in 2024 came against the Bangladesh football team. It happened during the November international window, with both friendlies being hosted in Dhaka. The first match saw Maldives securing a stunning yet a narrow 1-0 victory over the Bengal Tigers. However, Bangladesh managed to secure and scrape a gritty 2-1 win in the second friendly.

Maldives played six international matches in the year 2023. That included their participation in the SAFF Championship, where they won just one of their three games and were eliminated from the group stages. They only won two of their six matches in 2023.

The Coach

The Maldives national team recalled experienced coach Ali Suzain in 2024 to take up their head coach role after the departure of Italian coach Francesco Moreiro. Suzain has been involved with the Maldives football scene for quite a few decades now, having a relatively uneventful stint as a player before gaining more popularity as a manager.

Suzain has been coaching in the Maldives since 2002, having initially begun his career as the assistant coach at Victory Sports Club. He helped the club win five national league titles during his time as assistant coach before venturing out on his own from 2009 onwards.

The experienced coach has managed clubs like Victory SC, Club Green Streets and Maziya S&RC in his coaching career.  The majority of his success came with Maziya, whom he led to the 2016 Dhivehi Premier League title and also helped win the FA Cup and President’s Cup during his stint from 2014-2016.

Suzain has worked as Maldives’ head coach in the past in 2021 for a short stint. He has only been able to coach them for two international matches since taking over in 2024.

Ali has helped improve their defensive shape, tightening their line and helping them soak the pressure better. He has shown a liking for shaping them with a two striker 4-4-2 formation, which helps pile more bodies behind and also allows the centre-forwards to be a thorn for the centre-backs.

Players to Watch

Hassan Naiz

Arguably the biggest threat in the Maldives frontline is their star striker Hassan Naiz. The 26-year-old has had a pretty solid record with the national team, having scored 10 goals in 43 appearances for the Red Snapprers in his career so far. The Maziya S&RC striker played in the 2024-25 AFC Challenge League as well, but was unable to score in them despite some energetic displays.

Naiz is an evasive customer in the opposition box, as he likes to move around the frontline to trouble the centre-back and look to disrupt their defensive shape. He can also work really hard and move into different spaces to help improve the unpredictability of his attack.

The 26-year-old is a pretty reliable finisher with a lot of variety with his final product. He’s failed to score against India in past meetings, but will look to change that by being at his ruthless best for the upcoming clash.

Ali Fasir

Despite Naiz’s commendable record for the Maldives, the most experienced figurehead in their frontline remains Ali Fasir. The 36-year-old is still going strong in his age and he scored both the goals for the Red Snappers in the two international matches against Bangladesh last year. He has scored 11 goals in 68 appearances for his national team, boasting the riches of experience and knowledge.

Fasir might not be the fastest anymore, but he makes up by reading his team’s movement well to trick defenders with his clever off-the-ball runs. He also has the knowledge of turning up in the right positions, beating the defender’s marker and putting the ball into the goal. He’ll look to use his unpredictability and knowledge to be a tormenting factor for India and test their defensive resolve.

What to Expect

Even though the Maldives football team didn’t play that much football in 2024, they showed some promising signs of how they might grow under Ali Suzain. The Blue Tigers can probably expect to face a side who will be happy for them to dominate the possession.

India will, of course, look to play on the front foot at their home ground, but face a resilient side that can soak up a lot of attacking moves and make frustrating clearances in the key moments. Maldives should be expected to go with a defensive approach for this, as they’ll even be happy with a draw if need be.

They’ll probably look to neutralize India’s attacking patterns first before looking to threaten on the counter-attacks. The Red Snappers will look to use their wily wingers to deliver the ball to the forward players quickly and catch India by surprise, as they might also be a threat on set-pieces because of their physical style.

It won’t be a walk in the park for India, who have to be wary of the scary counter-attacks and be innovative with their attacking pattern to outwit the visitors.

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