Cricket ties remain on hold but bitter neighbours India and Pakistan will resume their soccer rivalry next month with a series of three international friendlies in England, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said on Monday. "Playing Pakistan is always special," AIFF president Praful Patel said in a statement. "It's a positive sign that we will play a bilateral football series against Pakistan. I'm sure all sporting fans are eagerly looking forward to it."
Manchester, Coventry and London will host the matches between August 25 to September 11, the statement said, but the UK-based organisers told Reuters that neither the dates nor the stadiums had been finalised. The last time India visited Pakistan for a soccer match was in 2005, although the sides last met in an AFC Challenge Cup qualifier in Malaysia this March. India won that contest 3-1. India snapped bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attack in which gunmen killed 166 people. Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani travelled to India in March this year to watch a Cricket World Cup semi-final featuring the neighbours and the 'cricket diplomacy' has rekindled hopes of a resumption of Tests and One-dayers between the sides.
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