Brazil are talking to India about a friendly. Kolkata is the city being floated. October 6 is the date on the table.
According to a report from Correio Braziliense’s Drible de Corpo blog, published July 23, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) is weighing an offer to face India once its two Australia friendlies wrap up — Townsville on September 25, Brisbane four days later. The India fixture would close out the tour, with the match reportedly set to be played in Asia.
CBF is evaluating an offer to play India on October 6, the report says, with the game likely staged in Asia.
The timing isn’t random. Europe’s biggest sides are locked into UEFA Nations League fixtures for most of that window, which leaves Carlo Ancelotti short of heavyweight opponents between September 24 and October 6. India, ranked 138th in the world, is the name that has filled the gap.
India sit 138th in the FIFA rankings — the lowest-ranked side reportedly on Brazil’s 2026 friendly radar.
A social media post from ESPN Brasil has pointed specifically at Kolkata as the host city, and the timing lines up with the CBF’s reported October 6 target. That detail hasn’t yet turned up in official CBF or AIFF statements, so treat the venue as unconfirmed until either federation puts a name to it. Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium — India’s most-used home ground, and the site of the country’s World Cup qualifier win over Kuwait in June — is the obvious candidate if the game does land in India.
Brazil haven’t played since Norway ended their 2026 World Cup in the round of 16. A trip to India, even with a squad rotated for distance and workload, would be one of the most-attended friendlies the country has ever hosted — the kind of occasion Kolkata’s football crowds have turned out for before, from Pelé’s visit in 2015 to Maradona’s the year after.
India qualified for the 1950 World Cup, hosted by Brazil, then withdrew before playing a match — reportedly over a FIFA ruling on barefoot players.
There’s a version of this story where nothing gets signed. Offers get evaluated and quietly dropped every window. But CBF doesn’t usually let stories like this leak without a plan behind them, and a rotated Brazil squad costs the federation very little for a payday most fixture windows can’t offer.
The last time Brazil and India were tied to the same World Cup, India pulled out over a dispute about boots. Seventy-six years later, they might finally share a pitch.
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