The All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) on Friday announced the 26-member squad for the Merdeka Cup tournament in Malaysia.

The tournament will be played in Malaysia from October 13-17. India have participated in this event twice in their history and finished as runners-up on both occasions (1959 and 1964).

The Merdeka Cup 2023 will be a four-team affair with hosts Malaysia, Palestine and Tajikistan are the other teams. To be played on a knockout basis, India will take on hosts Malaysia in the second semi-final on October 13. Palestine and Tajikistan will cross swords in the first semi-final earlier on the same day.

October 17 has been kept as the day for the final and also for the third-placed match, which will be played between the two losing semi-finalists.

The final list of 23 players, who will travel to Malaysia, will be announced in the second week of October.

The 26-member probable list is as follows –

Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith and Dheeraj Singh.

Defenders: Nikhil Poojary, Roshan Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Mehtab Singh, Lalchungnunga, Akash Mishra and Subhasish Bose.

Midfielders: Jeakson Singh, Suresh Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Rohit Kumar, Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandes, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Udanta Singh, Vikram Pratap Singh, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Liston Colaco and Nandhakumar Sekar.

Forwards: Sunil Chhetri and Manvir Singh.

Head Coach: Igor Stimac