Exclusive: Indian U23 football team to play two friendlies against Indonesia in October

Moosa’s boys assemble on 3 Oct, travel on 8 Oct for Indonesian double-header.

Fresh off a spirited AFC U23 Asian Cup 2026 qualifying campaign, where India narrowly missed out, the U-23 squad will reunite again during the October international break for two away friendlies against Indonesia.

“Our next target is the Asian Games, so that’ll be another 10 months for us. It’ll be great if we get great matches before that. We got the results in the U23 qualifiers as we got to play against Iraq, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the friendlies. So it’ll be great if we can have competitive games in the FIFA windows,” said India U-23 head coach Naushad Moosa recently.

Camp and tentative fixture window

The India U23 team will assemble in Bengaluru on 3 October for a short camp, fly to Indonesia on 8 October, and return to India on 14 October. The first match will take place on 10 October, and the second match will take 13 October 2025.

“AIFF officials are talking with clubs to secure players for this camp, even though these matches fall under the FIFA international break, some clubs are adamant to release players as they feel it will disturb their pre-season plans. Once the availability of players is clear, the coach will announce his final squad for these two friendlies”, said a source tracking the development.

Senior call-ups and the moving pieces

Nine names from the U23 qualifiers group, Bikash Yumnam, Pramveer, Ricky Meetei, Macarton Louis Nickson, Mohammed Aimen, Vibin Mohanan, Mohammed Sanan, Muhammed Suhail and Parthib Gogoi—received senior-team call-ups for the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Singapore.

Bikash missed the senior camp through illness and is set to rejoin the U-23s. Earlier this week, Aimen and Vibin were released from the seniors and will also return to the U-23 fold.

Moosa will firm up his list after senior men’s head coach Khalid Jamil finalises his travel party. The U-23 staff have already identified a few additions to widen the pool, with Sumit Sharma, Korou Singh Thingujam, Alan Saji, etc, among those under consideration.

Why do these upcoming matches matter?

Indonesia away offers exactly the kind of tempo and intensity India will need as a reference point heading toward the Asian Games. It is also a timely audition window for several fringe names pushing to cement their spots after the encouraging but unfinished business of the U-23 qualifiers.

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