Malé, Maldives: The Maldives National Women's Football Team is set to play two international friendly matches against India.

The matches will take place on December 30 and January 2, marking the first encounter between the two nations in the past three years.

According to the All India Football Federation (AIFF), both games will be held at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru, with kick-off scheduled for 3:30 PM IST.

Both teams participated in this year's SAFF Women's Championship, held in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The Maldives team, coached by Mohamed Nizam (Nizambe), is currently ranked 163rd in the FIFA World Rankings, while India sits in the 69th spot.

India, the most successful team in the South Asian region, has faced Maldives six times in the past. India has won five of these encounters, with the only draw coming in the 2016 South Asian Games, when Maldives held India to a 0-0 draw in Assam.

The two teams first met in 2014 during the Asian Games, where India won 15-0. This was followed by an 8-0 victory for India in that year's SAFF Women's Championship. In 2019, India won both their encounters in the SAFF Championship (6-0) and the South Asian Games (5-0).

The last meeting between the teams was nearly three years ago, when India defeated Maldives 9-0.

The Maldives team is currently in training ahead of these two matches against India.