No Sahal or Mohun Bagan players in squad as India face Jamaica in Unity Cup

As the India national football team is set to take on Jamaica in the Unity Cup 2026 in London, the spotlight has shifted from the team's tournament debut to the absence of several key Mohun Bagan Super Giant players from the squad.

The development has gained further significance after FIFA recognised the Unity Cup as a Tier-1 international tournament on May 22, meaning the results will directly impact the participating nations’ FIFA rankings.

India, currently ranked 136th, will face Jamaica, ranked 71st, in the second semi-final at 12 am on Thursday, and several key players are not in the squad.

Mohun Bagan has withdrawn seven players from the Indian squad, including Malayali Sahal Abdul Samad, citing injury concerns as the tournament begins outside the official FIFA international window, which runs from June 1 to June 9.

The club maintained that the players would only be officially released once the FIFA window begins on June 1. “Our stand is very clear — players will be released only from the day the FIFA window starts,” a club official told PTI.

The club argued that FIFA provides compensation if a player suffers an injury during an official international window, but no such protection exists outside it.

As a result, forwards Liston Colaco and Manvir Singh; midfielders Lalengmawia Ralte, Sahal Abdul Samad and Anirudh Thapa; defender Abhishek Singh; and goalkeeper Vishal Kaith were all pulled out of the squad.

Among them, Sahal, Ralte and Manvir Singh have been regular starters for India, while Liston and Thapa have also played crucial roles in the national setup.

The withdrawals could significantly weaken India ahead of a challenging tournament featuring higher-ranked opposition teams.

All the matches in the tournament take place at The Valley, the home stadium of Charlton Athletic FC. In the first semi-final, Nigeria defeated Zimbabwe 2-0 to reach the final.

The losing teams will meet in the third-place playoff on June 30.