Bangladesh have been drawn in Group B of the eight-nation South Asian Football Federation (S AFF)  Championship  alongwith top seed and invitee Lebanon, two times champions Maldives and Bhutan.

The Group A team featuring eight-time champions and host India, debutant and another invitee Kuwait, Nepal and the tournament's lowest-ranked Pakistan. 

The 14th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biggest soccer festival of South Asia,  will be held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium of the Indian city of Bengaluru from June 21 to July 4.

The grouping and fixture of the tournament were finalized on Wednesday (May 17) in the Indian capital New Delhi in presence of SAFF general secretary Anwarul Haq Helal, AIIF president Kalyan Choubery and AllF  secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran.

Hosts India will play their arch-rivals Pakistan in one of the two opening day's matches at 7:30 pm local time on June 21 while invitee Kuwait will face Nepal in the inaugural match on the same day at 3:30 pm.

Bangladesh, the champions of 2003, will start their campaign taking on favourite and top seed Lebanon on the following day (June 22) at 3:30 pm at the same venue.

In the remaining group matches, Bangladesh will play Maldives on June 25 at 3:30 pm and meet Bhutan on June 28 at 7:30 pm.

After the round-robin league matches, top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals. 

Bangladesh, who did not overcame the group stage barrier in the last five editions, have a good chance this time to reach the semifinal if they will able to eliminate Bhutan and Maldives in the group encounters.

Two top teams from each of the groups will play the semifinals on July 1 while the final billed for July 4.