It could be an opportunity of a lifetime for Indian football fans to catch a glimpse of a current global supertar playing in the country. That is IF Brazilian superstar Neymar turns out for his new club – Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal – which has been clubbed with Mumbai City FC in the upcoming AFC Champions League season in the group stage of the continental club showpiece.
Al Hilal, the third-place finishers in the 2022–23 Saudi Pro League, have recently signed Neymar, a former Barcelona FC and Paris Saint German player.
Neymar’s new Saudi club is also the most successful team in the AFC Champions League history, having won the title four times, besides being runners-up on five occasions.
Al Hilal have bolstered their squad for the upcoming season with some big-name signings including Neymar Jr, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Yassine Bounou and Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The group stage of the AFC Champions League is a home-and-away affair and thus Neymar could be seen in action at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, Mumbai City FC’s home venue.
FC Nassaji Mazandaran of Iran and PFC Navbahor Namangan of Uzbekistan are the other two sides in Group D.
The draw of AFC Champions League 2023-24 group stage was held at the Asian Football Confederation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Mumbai City FC made it to the AFC Champions League group stage for the second straight season, following their League Shield win during the Hero Indian Super League 2022-23 and the subsequent play-off versus Jamshedpur FC.
The 10 group winners, along with the three best runners-up across the five West Zone groups, will make it to the round of 16.
