The All India Football Federation’s Technical Committee has recommended a one-year extension to senior men’s team coach Igor Stimac who will now remain in his role till September 2022, the football governing body announced on Monday.
The technical committee arrived at the decision after deliberating over the presentation made by the Croatian where he highlighted the change in the team’s philosophy and the emergence of a new batch of players in the national set up, the statement said.
Stimac has not had the best of records as the head coach of the national team where he’s won just two of the 15 matches during his tenure that was largely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The team was out of action for over 400 days which led the Stimac to start afresh when national team action resumed.
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Stimac’s immediate task will be then next round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers that begin in September. India secured a direct entry into the third round of qualifiers after a third-place finish in the Fifa World Cup qualifiers that finished last month.
Thapa, chairman of the technical committee, asked Stimac to “come up with a detailed long-term plan to take Indian football forward together”.
AIFF general secretary Kushal Das and the federation’s interim technical director Savio Medeira were also present in the meeting.
Here is the full AIFF statement on Igor Stimac’s contract extension
All India Football Federation’s Technical Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Shyam Thapa met via a video conference today (July 19, 2021). Leave of absence was granted to Mr. Pradip Kumar Datta and Mr. Sundar Raman while all other members attended the meeting. Mr. Savio Medeira, AIFF interim Technical Director, and AIFF General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das were also present.
National Head Coach Mr. Igor Stimac made a presentation on the performance graph of the Senior Men’s National Team wherein he highlighted about the change in football philosophy, and emergence of future generation of the Blue Tigers in the National Team set-up. Stimac has been on contract as Head Coach since May 2019.
The Committee deliberated at length, and reached a consensus that in view of the external factors which has had a huge impact on the footballing world in general, and with the National Team all set to begin their campaign in their quest to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023, Head Coach Igor Stimac be given an extension of his contract till September 2022. The AFC Asian Cup qualifiers will be played from February 2022 to September 2022.
The Chairman requested Stimac to come up with a detailed long term plan to take Indian Football forward together.