Kuwait to play in SAFF Championship 2023

Sports Reporter :
Kuwait will play in the upcoming SAFF Championship, which is scheduled to be held at Bengaluru in India from June 21. The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) has invited Kuwait to take part in the forthcoming SAFF Championship. Kuwait Football Association has confirmed that it will send Kuwait team to play in the SAFF Championship.

Earlier, the SAFF invited Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Malaysia to participate in the SAFF Championship. But KSA and Malaysia refused to take part in the SAFF Championship. The SAFF has invited Syria and Philippines to compete in the SAFF Championship. There is every possibility for Syria to take part in the SAFF Championship.

General Secretary of SAFF Anwarul Haq Helal said to a local website, ” Kuwait Football Association officially confirmed the participation of Kuwait team in SAFF on Tuesday. The Kuwait National Football team will compete in the SAFF Championship. Bahrain, Jordan, Singapore, Indonesia, refused to play in the SAFF Championship. We are trying to include Syria in the SAFF Championship. If Syria refuse to play, we shall try to include Philippines.” It may be mentioned that according to the latest FIFA ranking, India’s ranking is 101. On the other hand, Kuwait’s FIFA ranking is 143. Kuwait are the one of the powerhouse of Middle East of Football. Kuwait took part in the FIFA World Cup 1982.

Earlier, Afghanistan played in the three edition of SAFF Championship. But they are not interested to take part in the SAFF Championship.
The SAFF wants to stage an eight-team SAFF 2023.

Six teams from South Asian Region have already given their consent to play in the forthcoming SAFF Championship.

They are: Hosts India , Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan. Sri Lanka could not take part in the upcoming SAFF Championship as they are banned by FIFA, the highest governing body of world football.