The new Indian football team jersey was unveiled on December 19, 2018.India are the first team to reach United Arab Emirates (UAE) to try and acclimatise with the conditions in the Middle East prior to the start of the AFC Asian Cup. But their preparations are not going as smoothly as the players would have liked with the team reportedly yet to get their kits for the pre-tournament friendlies. It remains uncertain which kit the team would use in their friendly against Oman on Thursday. There are further reports that the fixture would be played behind closed doors.
The kits are to be provided by Six5Six, a Gurgaon-based sportswear brand, which replaced Nike as the team’s official merchandise manufacturer in October this year. The five-year deal was facilitated by Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), marketing partner of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
Indian team arrived in Abu Dhabi on December 20 with their old travel gear and are expected to get their new match kit only on the eve of their friendly against Oman on December 27.
The report by Times of India quoted sources saying the training kit has started arriving in batches but some were ill fitting while some have the same numbers. “There is no reason for creating unnecessary controversy. Some of the kits have already been received and by Tuesday the players will have all the kits with them,” AIFF secretary general Kushal Das was quoted as saying by the media outlet.
Elsewhere, an FSDL source told the paper, “Nobody from the AIFF mentioned that they required different set of jersey numbers for the Oman friendly and the AFC Cup. Discussions were only about the AFC Cup jersey numbers. That list which was provided by the AIFF, was sent to the vendor and, accordingly, the numbers were printed.”
India had last played in the AFC Asian Cup in 2011 and have made the early trip to UAE to get ready for the tournament which pits them with hosts UAE, Thailand and Bahrain in the group stage.
