Hangzhou: The Indian men's football team has been clubbed with China, Bangladesh, and Myanmar for the Hangzhou Asian Games in a relatively easy Group A, while the women have been placed alongside Thailand and Chinese Taipei in Group B.
The draw was conducted here on Thursday.
Meanwhile, India have been pooled together with Qatar, Kuwait plus Afghanistan or Mongolia in Group A in the preliminary qualifiers of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Asian Cup champions Qatar, the 2022 World Cup hosts, have never advanced through the qualifying stages.
The current security situation in Afghanistan means the team is likely to play "home" games in neutral countries.
The Indian men's and women's football teams' participation at the Asian Games was confirmed after the Sports Ministry decided to relax the existing selection criteria.
There are six groups in the men's competition. The top two teams from each group and four best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16.
As far as the women's competition is concerned, the top team from each group and the three best second-placed teams will progress to the quarterfinals.
India enjoyed success in men's football in the Asian Games in the early years, winning gold in the inaugural edition in 1951 and emulating the feat in 1962.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had earlier refused to clear the Indian football teams for the Games on the ground that they were not ranked in the top-8 in Asia.
The All India Football Federation then made an appeal to the Sports Ministry to allow the two sides to take part in the prestigious event with national senior team head coach Igor Stimac also seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention.
Since 2002, football in the Asian Games has been an U-23 affair with three players above that age being permitted in a team.
However, in this edition of the Games the 24-year-old players are also eligible to play because of the one-year postponement of the Games owing to rising COVID cases in China last year.
Veteran striker Sunil Chhetri, first-choice goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and star defender Sandesh Jhingan are set to be part of the Indian men's team as the three over-age players.
With lower-ranked Myanmar and Bangladesh in their group, the Indian men will be expected to progress to the next round of the competition, while the women will also fancy their chances.
The Indian men's team currently occupies the 18th spot among countries under the Asian Football Confederation, while the women's side is ranked 11th.
The Indian men's team has entered the sub-100 club in the FIFA rankings once again, having won the SAFF Championship where it played against Lebanon and Kuwait. This year it also won the Intercontinental Cup and the tri-nation football tournament featuring Kyrgyz Republic and Myanmar.
The women's team has also done well, beating Kyrgyzstan twice in the Olympic Qualifiers Round 1.
The Asian Games will be held from September 23 to October 8 but the football event starts on September 19, with the final scheduled for the penultimate day of the Games.
