Arriving in Dhaka, India's coach calls Bangladesh the strongest team at SAFF and hopes for a final against them

On arriving in Dhaka for the SAFF Championship, India coach Naushad Musa described hosts Bangladesh as the strongest team in the tournament. Speaking to reporters at the airport after landing on Tuesday afternoon, he said: 'In my view, Bangladesh are the strongest team in the tournament at this moment. I hope we face them in the final.'

Despite that respect for their rivals, India are not stepping back from their aim of retaining the title. The nine-time champions have come to Dhaka chasing a tenth trophy. They won the most recent edition in 2023, beating Kuwait in the final.

This India squad is comparatively young and inexperienced. Under-23 coach Naushad Musa has taken charge in place of senior national team coach Khalid Jamil. Most of the 28-member squad are under-23 players, and several regular senior internationals are not in the party.

At the same time, India's main national team will play two friendlies against New Zealand. With the Indian Super League (ISL) also running, Naushad is not getting all of his players from the clubs at the start either. Fielding a full-strength team in the first match will therefore be difficult for India, the report noted.

The Indian coach himself acknowledged that challenge. Naushad said: 'We are not getting a few players before the first match. That is a challenge. But the team I have is not bad either. To be honest, we have a strong team.' He believes this squad still has what it takes to retain the title.

Even with a young squad, however, Bangladesh have no room to take India lightly. At the 2009 SAFF Championship in Dhaka, India also arrived with an under-23 team. They won that tournament, beating the Maldives 3-1 on penalties in the final, after defeating hosts Bangladesh 1-0 in the semi-final.

India's record at SAFF is long. After their first title in 1993, they were champions in 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2021 and 2023 — nine titles in all.

Bangladesh's recent record against India is encouraging. On 18 November last year in Dhaka, Bangladesh beat India 1-0 in an AFC Asian Cup qualifying match. Before that, in March 2025, the two teams drew 0-0 on Indian soil.

The SAFF Championship begins on 5 November at the National Stadium in Dhaka. Both teams play on the opening day — India face Pakistan at 3:30pm, and hosts Bangladesh take on Bhutan at 8pm.