The Indian football hit a new low after men’s senior team head coach Khalid Jamil and few of his players were denied entry into the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi, over payment issues. The incident took place on Thursday, when Jamil and his three players Ashique Kuruniyan, Sahal Abdul Samad and Bijoy Varghese were stopped by the security staff of the of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) at the gates.

It disrupted the pre-match press-conference and Jamil and his players returned back to the hotel after waiting for a few minutes. Even the media persons attending the press conference were also not allowed inside. The Indian football team are in Kochi to play an AFC Asian Cup qualifier match against Hong Kong on March 31.

Notably, Kochi is hosting the Indian national football team after almost a gap of 10 years. The last time India played at this venue was in 2016. According to a www.onmanorama.com report, the Kerala Football Association (KFA) has failed to pay a security deposit of ₹20 lakhs to the GCDA for the March 31 clash. However, KFA downplayed the incident as a minor issue.

Reacting on the issue, KFA president Navas Meeran called it a “minor technical problem” and assured that the match will go as planned. “The Asian Cup qualifier will go ahead as planned. What happened on Thursday was a minor technical problem, and it will be sorted out soon,” Meeran said.

How did AIFF react on the issue?

Addressing the issue, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) made it clear that the match will go ahead as planned in Kochi. In an official statement, AIFF ensured continuous support to KFA and expressed that there will no lapses in arrangements at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

“As per the operational timeline, the stadium is required to come under the control of the match operations team from Matchday-2 (March 29), and we are confident that all necessary procedures will be completed within the stipulated timeframe,” the AIFF statement read.

India at AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers

Having finished third in Group A in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification, India made it to the third round of the Qualifiers. In the third round, India were put in group C along with Singapore, Bangladesh and Hong Kong. with no wins in five matches so far, India have already been eliminated with their match against Hong Kong is nothing but a dead rubber.

Singapore, with three wins, have already for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. Bangladesh and Hong Kong also stand eliminated. Earlier, in the away game against Hong Kong, India had lost 0-1.