India to play 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on March 12

The Indian senior national football team will play their home match of the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium at Sajusarai in Guwahati.

The Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 will be played on a home and away format and India will play their home match in Guwahati on March 12. The match will mark the debut for head coach Stephen Constantine in his second stint with the national team.

The return leg is slated for March 17.

The official draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 will take place in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Asia's 12 lowest ranked sides -- India, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Timor Leste, Nepal, Macau, Pakistan, Mongolia, Brunei and Bhutan -- will be involved in the draw at the AFC House.

The 12 teams (ranked 35th to 46th) are seeded based on the latest FIFA ranking and will be divided into six pairings of two teams. The dozen hopefuls will then play on a home and away format with the games scheduled to take place on March 12 and 17.

The six winners will advance to Round 2 where the 34 highest ranked teams await. The 40 nations will be drawn into eight groups of five teams and compete, yet again, according to a home and away format.

The Round 2 qualification matches will be held from June 11, 2015 to March 29, 2016.

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup finals.

Image: Sunil Chhetri (middle) tries to sidestep Gouramangi Singh as Gurjinder Kumar (left) presses from behind during a team training session

Photograph: AIFF