The ongoing tension between Palestine and Israel has forced the former to withdraw its team from the Merdeka Cup football tournament.

Merdeka Cup begins in Kuala Lumpur later this week. Hosts Malaysia, India and Tajikstan are the three other teams.

“Merdeka Cup participation is off. Palestine will not play vs Tajikistan this Friday and Malaysia/India next week. The coaching staff and locally based players have not been able to leave their houses due to the threat of settler violence,” Football Palestine posted on X.

The tournament was earlier supposed to be played on knockout basis with India taking on hosts Malaysia in the second semi-final on October 13. Palestine and Tajikistan were to cross swords in the first semi-final earlier on the same day.

But now it could be a round-robin affair with top two teams playing the final. There has not been any official confirmation from the Football Association of Malaysia on Palestine’s pull out and subsequent change in the format of the tournament. Merdeka Cup is making a return after a decade-long hiatus.

Sunil Chhetri. File picture

India landed in Kuala Lumpur on Monday evening. Captain Sunil Chhetri and Sandesh Jhingan, who did not travel with the squad, are expected to touch down in the Malaysian capital on Tuesday.

This tournament is significant for India as it serves as a preparation phase for the upcoming joint qualifiers for the second round of the 2026 Fifa World Cup and the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as well as the Asian Cup 2023 scheduled for January-February next year.

India were forced to field an inexperienced side for the just-concluded Asian Games after the clubs refused to release players. Igor Stimac’s men qualified for the round-of-16 despite all odds, losing to Saudi Arabia.

Stimac signed a two-year contract extension last week.