Full timeline of India's horrific AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifier Campaign

Three coaches in one Asian Cup campaign for the Blue Tigers!

The Indian Football Team suffered the ultimate heartbreak in their qualification campaign for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. After having successfully qualified for the 2019 and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup editions, when they were eliminated in the group stages, expectations were high that the Blue Tigers would also qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup edition too.

However, what followed was quite a dramatic qualification campaign, which had a few highs and a lot of lows. India began their qualification in the second round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, which also served as the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification. Thus began a dramatic AFC Asian Cup qualification journey for the Blue Tigers, who would go on to take part in some chaotic matches going forward.

The Indian football team end the year 2025 at the 142nd spot in the FIFA Men's World Rankings!They started the year at the 127th spot! #IndianFootball #IndianFootballTeam #BlueTigers pic.twitter.com/qcpj1uEgLc

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) December 23, 2025

16 November 2023 – Win against Kuwait

Under the guidance of Igor Stimac, India had a thrilling start to the second round of their AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers. They faced off against a higher-ranked Kuwait side in their opening game and were definitely the underdogs heading into the clash.

However, the Indian players showcased a lot of grit in being able to frustrate the Kuwait players and stay alive in the game. Then, in the 75th minute, Manvir Singh finished off a slick move to make it 1-0. India were able to hold onto that lead, getting three huge points to kickstart their qualification campaign in style.

21 March, 2024 – Draw away to Afghanistan

After the win over Kuwait, India went onto suffer a nasty 3-0 loss to Qatar at home. However, they were able to somewhat make up in their next away game against Afghanistan away from home in their third qualifier of the group.

The Blue Tigers produced a gritty defensive effort to frustrate the hosts, even though they weren’t exactly the most prolific going forward. After failing to convert their chances, India had to accept a 0-0 draw, which helped them assume the second position in their group.

6 June, 2024 – Draw at home to Kuwait

India had a huge chance to potentially seal the second place in their group when they hosted Kuwait in their final home match of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualification second round. A win would’ve taken them to seven points and helped them assume a three-point lead over Kuwait at that point.

However, another frustrating show in front of the goal haunted Igor Stimac’s side. They were defensively pretty solid in neutralizing Kuwait’s threat, but India just couldn’t convert their chances well enough. In the end, they had to settle for a 0-0 draw and leave their fate to be decided in their final game against Qatar.

11 June, 2024 – Crushing loss to Qatar

India needed a win to be able to pip Kuwait to the second spot in their group. India decided to take the fight to Qatar in the final match of their AFC Asian Cup 2027 Round 2 qualifiers clash, knowing that the hosts had already sealed the top spot in the group. Igor Stimac urged his players to play fearless attacking football and they did just that, with Lallianzuala Chhangte scoring a clutch opener in the 37th minute.

Buoyed by that, India defended as a strong unit and looked very promising heading into the final stages. Then, something dramatic and controversial took place in the 73rd minute. Yousef Aymen scored the equaliser for Qatar, but the goal itself was quite unbelieveable. That is because a Qatar player literally snatched the ball, which was beyond the line beside the goal, before it was slipped back into play and scored a goal.

As there was no VAR in this game, it couldn’t be rechecked and Qatar scored an undeserving goal. Soon after, they scored another one, with Kuwait assuming the second place in the group with their win and sending India to the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualification.

17 June, 2024 – Igor Stimac sacked as India head coach

Igor Stimac was made to pay for India’s inability to secure qualification into the AFC Asian Cup by finishing in the top two in the second round group. Less than a week after the debatable loss to Qatar, the Croatian gaffer was sacked as the India head coach.

He left the Blue Tigers with 53 games managed, out of which they won 19 times. Stimac was incensed by the timing of his sacking and he decided to lash out at the operations of the AIFF. A few days after his sacking, Stimac organized a virtual press conference involving all major media organizations in India (including Khel Now) to basically air the dirty laundry in public.

Stimac made a number of staggering revelations in this press conference. He claimed that he fought through heart issues in 2023 and had to undergo surgery towards the end of the year. Stimac claimed that Trevor Sinclair was brought into the fray into the India football team coaching staff to potentially be his back-up if things went badly with his health.

The Croatian gaffer also claimed in the press event that the Indian football team shared scouting platforms like WyScout with FC Goa. He slammed the AIFF representatives as those who don’t know how to run a football federation and only craving for power.

He also directly attacked Kalyan Chaubey, even stating: “President of the AIFF gets pictures clicked with people in important position just for social media attention. He is now on a spree giving bytes to several influencers.”

Finally, Stimac told journalists that ‘Indian Football is being imprisoned’ and that major changes are required to turn things around. The AIFF slammed back at Stimac on 24 June (2025), slamming him of ‘unprofessional conduct’ and revealing that Stimac demanded the help of an astrologer to help pick his best starting XI in key matches.

Soon after this, Igor also launched a legal case against the AIFF claiming ‘wrongful’ termination. The case dragged for a few months, before the Croatian gaffer won it and earned the right to receive $400000 from AIFF as part of the wrongful termination lawsuit.

20 July, 2024 – Manolo Marquez appointed as India head coach

After all the drama involving Igor Stimac and the AIFF, Manolo Marquez was chosen as his successor and he opted to become the India head coach, while already employed by FC Goa. Marquez’s experience of working in Indian football for many years, and his success with helping Hyderabad FC win the Indian Super League (ISL), helped him bag the job.

However, things starte doff in shaky fashion for Marquez. In his first tournament in the 2024 Intercontinental Cup, India played a 0 -0 draw against Mauritius in their first match under Marquez before losing to Syria in their other match – which ended their Intercontinental Cup campaign. India would only get their first win under Marquez in their fifth game, a 3-0 thrashing of Maldives.

25 March, 2025 – Draw to Bangladesh in first third round clash in Asian Cup qualification

India were placed in a group against Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangladesh in the third round of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifier. They were the highest-ranked team in the group at the start of the round and were paired to face off against Bangladesh in their first group game.

It turned out to be a really frustrating game for the Blue Tigers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong. India dominated the majority of the possession, but just didn’t have enough creative acumen to trouble Bangladesh. They were held to a goalless draw, starting off the group stages in frustrating fashion.

After the draw, Manolo Marquez tore into his team’s performance and claimed ‘I am really angry and siappointed’ at the result. He slammed his players for failing to play at a high level and claiming that his side were ‘lucky’ to have even earned a draw from the result.

10 June, 2025 – Crushing loss to Hong Kong

The final game of the Manolo Marquez era as the India head coach was a particularly forgettable one for the Blue Tigers. Despite facing a lower-ranked side in Hong Kong, India just weren’t able to show any signs of being efficient or commanding in their away game.

Just as it looked like the game would result in another goalless draw, after some solid defensive work from the Indian defenders, tragedy struck in added time. India conceded a late penalty, which Stefan Pereira converted late in stoppage time to seal a huge win for Hong Kong against India.

Soon after this, Marquez resigned from his role as the India head coach, winning just one of the eight matches he was in charge of them. After his abrupt resignation, Marquez spoke up on his decision and stated: “I resigned in April, but they asked me to take the June window. I didn’t want to leave just because of the poor results. Three days before the match against Hong Kong, all the players knew it would be my last game.”

1 August, 2025 – Khalid Jamil becomes India head coach

After Manolo Marquez’s resignation, Khalid Jamil was chosen to become the new head coach for India. A former India international himself and knowing his experience levels in helping Aizawl FC win the I-League title in the past, Jamil was chosen as the pragmatic option to help save India’s AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign.

With early success in the CAFA Nations Cup, fans expected things to turn around in the Asian Cup 2027 Qualifier, but things didn’t go as planned.

9 October, 2025 – Sneaky draw against Singapore

In what was India’s first AFC Asian Cup qualification third round match under Khalid Jamil, the Blue Tigers needed some help from lady luck. They did produce a pretty solid defensive effort, restrict Singapore to just one goal. However, after Ikhsan Fandi gave Singapore the lead late in the first half, the Blue Tigers put pressure on the hosts after the break.

It was ultimately the supersub Rahim Ali who scored a rather lucky equalizer, after a botched back pass in the 90th minute allowed hm to past the goalkeeper and score into an empty net. This helped give India their second point in the group, but meant they had to win their remaining three matches to have a chance of topping their group.

14 October, 2025 – Asian Cup dreams crushed after loss to Singapore

As India were under immense pressure to get a win over Singapore, they had to fight really hard to get a win against them at the Fatorda Stadium. The Blue Tigers actually began the game in impressive fashion, with Lallianzuala Chhangte’s incredible long-range effort giving them the lead in the 14th minute.

However, India couldn’t pick up from that, failing to score any more goals. Singapore started getting back into the game and scored a clinical goal in the 44th minute through Song Ui-young. Song then put the dagger into the Blue Tigers, scoring 58th minute as well to seal the comeback for his side. Even though the Blue Tigers tried hardest, they couldn’t score any more goals and suffered a loss – officially ending their dreams of qualifying for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup campaign.

18 November, 2025 – Embarrassment against Bangladesh

The lowest point of India’s AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifier definitely happened in their most-recent clash. The Blue Tigers looked vulnerable against a confident Bangladesh side, who rode on Shekh Morsallin’s early goal. India were toothless in the attack, suffering an embarrassing loss which summed up a dreadful 2025 for Indian football as a whole.

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