Shillong, March 3: The Meghalaya Football Association is working overtime to ready the JN Stadium and NEHU training ground for the two men’s international football matches that the city will host later this month.
Shillong is, for the first time, going to host two men’s international matches – the first a friendly between India and Maldives on 19 March and the second an AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifier between India and Bangladesh on 25 March.
There had been reports in the news recently regarding whether the friendly would go ahead but, during a media interaction today, MFA General Secretary Sunesh Syiem and MFA Vice-President Cliff Nongrum clarified that the game will take place as scheduled.
“I was surprised to see that news because from the AIFF (All India Football Federation) there was no communication of that,” Syiem said. “Just today the AIFF also assigned a Match Commissioner for the international friendly. It has been requested that Maldives arrive in Shillong two days prior to the date originally scheduled and, of course, we will accommodate them.”
The JN Stadium has already received high praise from AFC Match Commissioner Mindu Dorjee and Indian men’s national assistant coach Mahesh Gawali, with the latter describing the stadium as “one of the best football grounds” in the country. The training ground on the NEHU campus does require some work to get it up to international standard and special machinery is on its way to Shillong to level the turf as it is undulating in parts, Nongrum informed.
These two international matches will be the culmination of an extremely successful 12 months for the state in attracting top quality football. It began with the prestigious Durand Cup last summer, which was followed by three Indian Super League games (the third of which will take place on 8 March) and now the two international fixtures. The foundations, however, were laid several years ago when the state government took the decision to convert the artificial turf at the JN Stadium to an all-natural surface, a key requirement for ISL and international matches. Extensive renovation of the stadium, the support for five-star hotels and other infrastructure have also played their part in attracting these events to Shillong.
Explaining a little how Meghalaya was chosen for the Maldives and Bangladesh games, Syiem said that the AIFF saw how successfully Shillong co-hosted the Durand Cup, the passion of the fans and the facilities available and then approached the MFA with the possibility of holding international matches here. “We then went to the state government and we are so grateful to our Chief Minister for being ready to support us to bring these matches here,” he added.
The MFA sees these international matches as a chance to further encourage and inspire the state’s young players. “The Indian team will be camping here for two weeks and we are hopeful of arranging an interaction between the players and boys and girls from local football academies during this time,” Syiem explained.
