India U17 drawn with Malaysia, Palestine, Singapore, Guam in AFC Qualifiers

India’s Under-17 men’s football team has been drawn in Group E alongside Malaysia, Palestine, Singapore, and Guam for the AFC U17 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2027 Qualifiers.

Hyderabad: The India Under-17 men’s team have been drawn with Malaysia, Palestine, Singapore, and Guam in Group E of the AFC U17 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2027 Qualifiers, following the official draw at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday, August 27, 2026.

The Blue Colts will travel to Malaysia, the hosts for Group E, to compete in a single round-robin league format from November 11 to 20, 2026.

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India’s campaign will begin with a clash against Singapore on November 11, before taking on Guam on November 14, followed by matches against Palestine on November 17, and hosts Malaysia on November 20.

The Qualifiers split up 35 teams into seven groups of five. The group winners will qualify for the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2027, which is scheduled to be held in Uzbekistan from May 12 to 29, 2027.

Having qualified for the 2026 tournament in Saudi Arabia, where they were eliminated in the group stage, India will now aim to secure back-to-back appearances in the AFC U17 Asian Cup and qualify for the tournament for the 11th time in their history.

For the Qualifiers draw, the teams were seeded into five pots and an additional hosts’ pot based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the most recent three editions of the Finals. India were seeded in Pot 1.

The seven group winners will progress to the AFC U17 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2027, where they will join the nine AFC representatives from the FIFA U17 World Cup Qatar 2026 who have automatically qualified: Australia, China PR, Japan, Korea Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

 

India’s schedule:

November 11: Singapore vs India
November 14: India vs Guam
November 17: Palestine vs India
November 20: India vs Malaysia