The Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) is the youngest of the five AFC regional associations and is looking to invite India for a few competitions in the future.
In an interaction recently, Ulugbek Karimov, general secretary, CAFA, said: “India was invited by CAFA for one of our youth competitions a year back. However, they could not join. We are happy to invite teams from other regional associations as it contributes to friendly cooperation and also makes our tournaments interesting and competitive. Of course, if there is a possibility, we would consider inviting India to our CAFA tournaments in the future.”
With four more slots available for Asia from the next FIFA World Cup, one of the six members from this region could be in contention for it.
Players from the CAFA region have taken part in Indian leagues like Mirlan Murzayev (Kyrgyzstan) who played for Chennaiyin FC in the ISL.
Commenting on India’s growth in the sport, Karimov said, “India is a huge market in terms of the football ecosystem and football is growing there.
“The visibility of the league is huge and it is a great platform for the development of players, including those from the Central Asian region.”
