Floyd Pinto will take charge of the Indian Arrows side in the upcoming I-League season, filling a post left vacant by Portuguese Luis Norton de Matos who stepped down earlier this month.
De Matos, who was the head coach of the Indian U-17 World Cup team last year, quit the Arrows job on July 18, citing personal reasons. Pinto’s appointment as Arrows head coach was announced on Wednesday after the All India Football Federation’s Technical Committee met in New Delhi.
“The Committee unanimously agreed upon Floyd Pinto taking over as the new head coach of Indian Arrows while his assistant will be appointed later after shortlisting applications for the post,” the AIFF said in a release.
Pinto’s appointment as Arrows head coach was on expected lines as the Indian Arrows side will have most of the India U-20 players. Under de Matos, Indian Arrows, AIFF’s developmental team comprising India U-17 and U-19 players, finished at the bottom of the I-League last season.
Pinto will be guiding the Indian Arrows in the COTIF International tournament in Spain, starting July 29. The Technical Committee meeting was chaired by Shyam Thapa and attended by other members Abhishek Yadav, Henry Menezes, Sundar Raman and Pradip Datta, besides AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das.
Yadav apprised the Committee about the performance of the age-group national teams, including the U-16 side which is slated to play in the AFC U-16 Championship in Malaysia in September.