Maziya Sports and Recreation Club has departed to neighboring India, ahead of its match against Indian Super Cup League Champions, Bengaluru FC in the ongoing playoffs of the AFC Cup.

The team departed on Saturday and the second leg of the playoffs is scheduled for 26 February, in India’s Bangalore, set to kick off at 7pm local time at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

This comes at a time the Maldivian team had beaten Bengaluru FC 2 – 1 during the first leg, held last Wednesday.

Maziya stands a chance to be included in the Group Stage if it beats Bengaluru FC in the away game, or even draws with the team in the second leg.

After Maziya’s narrow win in the first leg, Coach Marjan Sekulovski stressed that Bengaluru FC is one of the strongest teams in the region and as such, it might be challenging to beat the team during the away game. However, Maziya has been preparing for the AFC tournament, with a strong squad.

This is the second time Maldives has beat Bengaluru FC, New Radiant Sports Club having beat the team the first-time round during 2018’s AFC Cup.

Bengaluru and Maziya went head-to-head in the AFC Cup tournaments of 2015 and 2017 as well. During both matches in 2017, Maziya lost 1 – 0.

Maziya is expected to win the group stages if it wins the playoffs and it will be in Group E along with TC Sports Club, India’s Chennaiyin FC and Bangladesh’s Bashundhara Kings.