In a highly anticipated international friendly, the Indian men\u2019s national football team is set to face the Maldives on March 19, 2025, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong. This match marks a significant event, as it witnesses the return of India\u2019s iconic striker, Sunil Chhetri, from international retirement.<\/p>\n
With 94 international goals, Sunil Chhetri is India\u2019s all-time top scorer. In June 2024, he announced his retirement from international football. However, recognizing the crucial nature of the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers, head coach Manolo M\u00e1rquez persuaded the 40-year-old striker to rejoin the national squad. M\u00e1rquez emphasized Chhetri\u2019s invaluable experience and leadership, stating, \u201cThe qualification for the Asian Cup is very crucial for us. Given the importance of the tournament and the matches ahead, I discussed with Sunil Chhetri about making a comeback to strengthen the National Team. He agreed, and so we have included him in the squad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The friendly against the Maldives serves as a preparatory fixture ahead of India\u2019s AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifier against Bangladesh on March 25, also in Shillong. The Meghalaya Football Association (MFA) has been diligently preparing the JN Stadium and the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) training ground to meet international standards. MFA General Secretary Sunesh Syiem expressed confidence in the facilities, highlighting positive feedback from officials and the commitment to hosting successful international fixtures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a highly anticipated international friendly, the Indian men\u2019s national football team is set to face the Maldives on March\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":34911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[127],"class_list":["post-14963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-sunil-chhetri"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}