India may have been the first team to reach United Arab Emirates as it tries to acclimatise and prepare for the AFC Asian Cup. But, the national football team has been left with no choice but to train away from public glare and is unsure about the kit they would sport in the friendly against Oman on Thursday, the Times of India reported.
The kits are to be provided by Six5Six, a Gurgaon-based sportswear brand which replaced Nike in October this year. The new five-year deal was facilitated by Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the marketing partner of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
India had last qualified for the Asian Cup in 2011 and went to UAE early to prepare for a tough group that includes hosts UAE, Thailand and Bahrain.
The team arrived in Abu Dhabi on December 20 sporting their old travel gear and is expected to get their new match kit only on the eve of their friendly against Oman.
The paper quoted sources saying the training kit has started arriving in batches but some jerseys were ill fitting while some bear the same numbers.
“There is no reason for creating unnecessary controversy. Some of the kits have already been received and by Tuesday the players will have all the kits with them,” AIFF secretary general Kushal Das was quoted as saying by the paper.
Explaining their point of view, an FSDL sources told the paper, “Nobody from the AIFF mentioned that they required different set of jersey numbers for the Oman friendly and the AFC Cup. Discussions were only about the AFC Cup jersey numbers. That list which was provided by the AIFF, was sent to the vendor and, accordingly, the numbers were printed.”