The senior Indian men's football team will play a Tri-Nation friendly competition in Vietnam in October this year. Along with India and hosts Vietnam, Lebanon will take part in the competition. Both Vietnam (116) and Lebanon (117) are placed ahead of India (124) in the latest FIFA rankings.

India will play their first match on 9th October and against Lebanon on 12th October. The Vietnam-Lebanon match will take place on 15th October. 

This will be the Blue Tigers’ first tournament after the AIFF sacked Igor Stimac as head coach following the team’s failure to make it to the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Significantly, the AIFF has received nearly 300 coaches' applications against the advertisement for the recruitment of a new coach. Tuesday was the last date for the submission of the application.

A five-member committee has been formed to choose the new national coach who will replace Igor Stimac finally. It is believed that most of the coach-selection committee members so far want an Indian coach to take charge of the senior national team. The committee is likely to decide on the new senior national coach by the next week.