India coach Khalid Jamil on Monday announced a 26-member squad for the upcoming high profile friendlies against Panama, Brazil and Uruguay. The matches vs Brazil and Uruguay will be held in Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium on October 3 and 6 respectively while the Panama clash will take place in the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on September 26.

“Jamil’s side will begin their preparatory camp on September 14 in Bengaluru. After the match against Panama, the Blue Tigers will travel to Kolkata on September 28 for their remaining two fixtures,” the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said in a press release.

The Uruguay and Panama matches were added to AIFF’s calendar after India withdrew from the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup in order to prioritise their high-profile friendly against Brazil, thus avoiding a scheduling clash that had made their participation in both competitions untenable.

India were invited to participate in the inaugural edition of the FIFA ASEAN Cup in June. Indonesia were named hosts, with India drawn alongside the hosts, Singapore and Malaysia. On 30 July, however, AIFF announced a friendly against Brazil, which will be played in Kolkata’s Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan on 3 October.

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The AIFF had initially insisted that India would compete in both competitions, but it eventually became an unfeasible proposition. The federation had explored the possibility of sending separate squads to the two competitions, but that option was ultimately ruled out on technical grounds.

India’s 26-player squad for the September-October FIFA men’s international friendlies:

Goalkeepers: Albino Gomes, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Prabhsukhan Singh Gill, Som Kumar.

Defenders: Abhishek Singh Tekcham, Akash Mishra, Anwar Ali, Bijoy Varghese, Hmingthanmawia Ralte, Jay Gupta, Pramveer, Ricky Meetei Haobam.

Midfielders: Anirudh Thapa, Ashique Kuruniyan, Farukh Choudhary, Lalengmawia Ralte, Macarton Nickson, Mohammed Sanan, Ricky Shabong, Sahal Abdul Samad.

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Forwards: Edmund Lalrindika, Irfan Yadwad, Manvir Singh, Rahim Ali, Ryan Williams, Vikram Partap Singh.

Four players have been named as reserves — goalkeeper Hrithik Tiwari, defenders Chinglensana Singh Konsham and Roshan Singh Naorem, and midfielder Suresh Singh Wangjam — and may be called up to the squad if required.