Pakistan has confirmed its participation in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championships in Bangalore in June-July and the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) does not see any problem with the players of the neighbouring country travelling to India.

The tournament will also see the participation of Lebanon and Kuwait as the SAFF executive committee in March decided to feature teams from outside the south Asian region with a view to making the championship more competitive.

“We don’t see any problem in Pakistan players coming to India to participate in the SAFF Championships,” AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran said.

He was asked if there could be any problem on the issue of granting visas to the Pakistani players in view of the political tension between the two countries.

“I think the Indian bridge team recently took part in a regional tournament in Pakistan and so we don’t expect any issue on their (Pakistan’s) participation,” he added.

The eight-team tournament will be held in Bangalore from June 21 to July 4.

Besides hosts India, Lebanon, Kuwait and Pakistan, the other four participating countries are Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives.

Sri Lanka is not taking part as it is serving a Fifa suspension while Afghanistan has left SAFF to join Central Asian Football Federation a few years back.

Pakistan failed to feature in two tournaments out of the 13 editions held so far since 1993, in 2015 and 2021.

The draw will be held here on Wednesday. India has won the regional tournament a record eight times.