Bhubaneswar will play host to the four-team Hero Intercontinental Cup, to be held from June 9 to 18.
This will be the third edition of the tournament, with the previous two being held in Mumbai (2018) and Ahmedabad (2019).
Host India will be joined by Lebanon, Mongolia and Vanuatu in the tournament.
“Bhubaneswar was one of the venues of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, and with that, we have seen some excellent infrastructure being developed by the Government of Odisha,” said All India Football Federation (AIFF) secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran.
“It is a legacy that the U-17 Women’s World Cup has left behind and has paved the path for the Senior Men’s National Team to now play in the city for the first time in its history.
India has previously never played against Mongolia and Vanuatu. Against Lebanon, it has played six times.
The Indian team is currently on a five-match unbeaten streak on home turf, a run that began on June 8, 2022, with a 2-0 win over Cambodia in the AFC Asian Cup 2023 Qualifiers Round 3 in Kolkata. Since then, Igor Stimac’s side has defeated Afghanistan (2-1), Hong Kong (4-0), and then on to the Tri-Nation tournament, where it beat Myanmar (1-0) and the Kyrgyz Republic (2-0) in Imphal.
