oi-Soumyaroop Mukherjee

India vs Hong AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers: Players and the head coach of the Indian senior men’s football team were denied entry into the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi for the mandatory pre-match press conference. The fiasco erupted after the Kerala Football Association failed to pay a mandatory security deposit to the stadium owners

“The stadium was rented out for a sum of three lakh rupees and included a security deposit of twenty-five lakh rupees. The AIFF has to pay the amount through the KFA, who are the organiser of the match. However, there have been some issues in the payment of the security deposit, which led to GCDA not opening the stadium doors for the press meet,” a source said, quoted by Khel Now.

India vs Hong Kong AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers: What Went Wrong In JLN Stadium In Kochi?

The Indian players, Ashique Kuruniyan, Sahal Abdul Samad, Bijoy Varghese, and head coach Khalid Jamil had arrived at the stadium for a pre-match press conference ahead of the senior national team’s final AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers fixture against Hong Kong on March 31.

But, they were denied entry following a dispute over the unpaid amount between the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), the caretaker of the stadium and the Kerala Football Association. As a result, the scheduled press conference had to be called off.

However, an AIFF source said that the match is likely to proceed as planned, with the required payment to be cleared three days before the match.

According to Asian Football Confederation regulations, a venue must be reserved for a minimum of four days to host an AFC match.

This isn’t the first time the GCDA has been involved in such a situation. A similar disruption occurred earlier this season when a press conference for Kerala Blasters FC ahead of their clash with Mumbai City FC was affected.

Jamil has announced a 23-player squad for the upcoming game, with the Blue Tigers commencing their training camp in Kochi on Tuesday. With India already out of contention for Asian Cup qualification, the fixture will serve as an opportunity to prepare for future competitions.

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