The ground, designed by late British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and located in a coastal town south of Doha, erupted into cheers as Amir Cup finalists Al Sadd and Al Duhail ran onto the pitch.

Amir of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani tweeted on his verified account ahead of kick-off that the ground's name would be changed to "Al Janoub Stadium" meaning "stadium of the south".

Also in attendance was FIFA President Gianni Infantino and former stars like Ruud Gullit of the Netherlands, Brazilian Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon.

The Croatian will be taking over from Stephen Constantine who stepped down as India's head coach after their AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 exit.

Albert Roca of Spain, Hakan Ericson of Sweden and Lee Min-sung of Korea Republic were also in the fray for the position, but Stimac pipped them to the post.

Courtesy of his time with Bengaluru FC, who were the winners of the Indian Super League in 2019, Roca was earlier considered one of the top contenders for the job.

Son, the darling of Korea Republic football, has netted 18 times in all competitions which saw him sweep the board with Tottenham’s end-of-season awards following Sunday's 2-2 draw with Everton in the English Premier League.

But the 26-year-old, who did not feature against Everton due to suspension, has suffered a recent dip in form after failing to find the back of the net in his last five games for Spurs.

The tournament, which saw its first edition in 2018, will see India start as the defending champions - having defeated Kenya in the final. The other two teams in the tournament in 2018 were Chinese Taipei and New Zealand.

AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das underlined the importance of the tournament by calling it an ‘acid test’ for the Indian team ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Qualifiers which are slated to begin in September.

The Dutchman is a former head coach for Singapore’s U-19 side that competed in the AFF U-19 Championship Indonesia 2018 last July, and was also part of Bert van Marwijk’s staff heading into the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia as a scout.

QFA President HE Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmad Al Thani extended the Spaniard's contract until 2022 to continue the technical stability of the national team, who will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Asian qualifying for Qatar 2022 opens in June with Bangladesh, who sit at 188 on the FIFA World Ranking, featuring among the six pairings of the Continent's bottom ranked sides in Round 1 action. Standing in their way of progression to the group stage are Laos, a side four places above them on the global pecking order.