Bangladesh has been drawn in Group B of the eight-nation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship along with top seed and invitee Lebanon, two times champions Maldives and Bhutan.
The Group A team features eight-time champions and hosts India, debutant, and another invitee Kuwait, Nepal, and the tournament's lowest-ranked Pakistan.
The 14th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biggest South Asian football extravaganza, will be held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in the Indian city of Bengaluru from June 21 to July 4.
The grouping and fixture of the tournament were finalized on Wednesday (May 17) in the Indian capital New Delhi in the presence of SAFF General Secretary Anwarul Haq Helal, AIIF President Kalyan Choubery, and AllF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran.
Hosts India will play their arch-rivals Pakistan in one of the two opening day matches at 7:30pm local time on June 21 while invitee Kuwait will face Nepal in the inaugural match on the same day at 3:30pm.
Bangladesh, the champions of 2003, will start their campaign by taking on the favorite and top seed Lebanon on the following day (June 22) at 3:30pm at the same venue.
In the remaining group matches, Bangladesh will play Maldives on June 25 at 3:30pm and will meet Bhutan on June 28 at 7:30pm.
After the round-robin league matches, top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals.
Bangladesh, who did not overcome the group stage barrier in the last five editions, have a good chance this time to reach the semifinal if they manage to eliminate Bhutan and Maldives in the group encounters.
Two top teams from each of the groups will play the semifinals on July 1 while the final is billed for July 4
