2012 Nehru Cup: Neighbours Nepal to replace African side Kenya?

The 2012 Nehru Cup being held in the year of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the All India Football Federation, but it seems that the AIFF is facing one problem after another before the tournament which is set to be played from August 22 to September 2 at the Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

I had speculated last week ( 2012 Nehru Cup: Is African nation Kenya sure to come? ) if Kenya was 100% certain come to play in the Nehru Cup. Now it is confirmed that the Africans have pulled out and that they would rather play a friendly against Jamaica in the US then come to India.

This came a complete surprise to the AIFF, who could could take the late withdrawl to CAF (Confederation of African Football) and FIFA then they had all necessary confirmation.


And who could replace Kenya?

There has been speculation about the Philippines or Nepal taking the place of Kenya with the Philippines having shown initial interest to come to play the Nehru Cup earlier on, but then they took back their confirmation due to a change in their own preparations for other tournaments later in the year.

Meanwhile our neighbours Nepal, the All Nepal Football Association and their media, have confirmed their participation with no confirmation from the AIFF so far. But it now looks likely that Nepal would be the fifth nation in the tournament.

2012 Nehru Cup: Is African nation Kenya sure to come?

The 2012 edition of the Nehru Cup is set to be a five nation affair with African sides Cameroon and Kenya plus Asian nations Syria and the Maldives besides hosts India set to take part. The tournament will kick-off on August 22 in New Delhi, but the All India Football Federation has still not confirmed the final line-up of nations to play in the tournament.

There have been confirmations from the Maldives (Football Association of Maldives) and Syria (Syrian Football Association) that their nations will participate in the tournament, while goal.com reported earlier in the day that Cameroon has confirmed their participation with a squad made-up of players from the local Cameroonian league.

But now the AIFF could face problems with the other African participant Kenya. It was clear from the onset that Kenya star Victor Mugabe Wanyama from Celtic Glasgow would not play in the tournament like other of their Europe-based players, but now there is a match which Kenya is supposed to play against Jamaica on August 25 in East Rutherford, New Jersey in the US.

The official Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Twitter account tweeted yesterday: August 25 - Jamaica vs Kenya @ East Rutherford CT

The August 25 date, which is also in the FIFA match calendar, would mean that Kenya would have an official international friendly during the Nehru Cup and if Kenya is considering of having two teams playing the Nehru Cup and the Jamaica friendly then surely the weaker side would be send to India, maybe the Kenya Football Federation is even thinking about sending a junior team.

Earlier Jordan had made a similar offer to send their Under-19 side, which the AIFF correctly turned down. I guess the AIFF need to communicate with Kenya to find out what they are thinking.

All this sounds similar to what happened in earlier editions of the Nehru Cup.

2012 Nehru Cup: Which nations will participate?

The 2012 edition of the Nehru Cup will kick-off in less then a month's time in New Delhi, but the All India Football Federation has still not named the final line-up of nations to play in the tournament.

One thing is clear that the tournament will be a five nation affair and hosts India will be one of the participating teams. According to sources the AIFF have finalised the four other nations which would be Cameroon, Kenya, Syria and the Maldives with the names of the nations to be made public in the coming days.

Originally the AIFF had send out more then 10 invitations across Asia and Africa. After it became clear that Nigeria wouldn't like to take part, other African nations in Cameroon, Senegal and Kenya were approached with Kenya accepting the invitation quickly while Cameroon took its time to give a positive feedback.

Meanwhile within Asia the nations of Afghanistan, Jordan, Maldives, the Philippines, Syria and Thailand were approached with Jordan, Maldives, the Philippines and Syria all willing to participate. The AIFF then had to decide which two Asian nations it wanted in the tournament. By then the Philippines backed out, so it was Syria and the Maldives in the end.

Surely Syria were opponents of India in 2007 and 2009 finals, but the question remains if the west Asians would be appropriate to have in the tournament with all those political problems in their country.

Who will participate in the 2012 Nehru Cup?

The All India Football Federation is set to organise the 2012 edition of the Nehru Cup from August 23 to September 2 at the Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. Besides hosts India four other nations will take part in the Nehru Cup which will be held three decades after the first edition in 1982. Also it will be part of the AIFF celebrating its Platinum Jubilee (75th anniversary).

But there is confusion on who will participate in the tournament this year with invited country football associations telling their respective national media that they will participate after accepting the AIFF offer. The only thing which is clear is that the AIFF is preferring to have two African and two Asian sides joining India in a five team competition.

The AIFF had send out more then 10 invitations across Asia and Africa. After it became clear that Nigeria wouldn't like to take part, Cameroon and Kenya were approached with Kenya having since accepted the invitation while Cameroon had given positive feedback about an interest to participate. Another nation doing the rounds as possible back-up is Senegal.

Meanwhile within Asia the nations of Afghanistan, Jordan, Maldives, the Philippines, Syria and Thailand are said to be amongst the nations approached with Jordan, Maldives, the Philippines and Syria all willing to participate.

Currently the AIFF seems to favour Cameroon and Kenya plus Syria and Jordan taking part in the tournament. But the AIFF will soon have to take a final decision on who it would like to see participate in the tournament, so the search for a title sponsor and television broadcaster can go ahead in full flow, then on the 75th anniversary it wouldn't show Indian football in good light without one of these or even both.