The All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) Technical Committee on Wednesday announced that it had shortlisted three individuals for the Indian men’s football team head coach role.
Jamshedpur FC coach Khalid Jamil, former India boss Stephen Constantine, and former Kyrgyzstan men’s national manager Stefan Tarkovic are the three names shortlisted for the job.
The post has been vacant since Manolo Marquez mutually parted ways with the men’s national team earlier this month.
The committee announced that it “carefully reviewed 170 applications received earlier this month” before narrowing down the list.
“The TC has recommended the resumes of the three shortlisted candidates to the Executive Committee, which will take the final call on who the next Blue Tigers head coach will be,” AIFF said in a statement.
Under Constantine, India had bettered its FIFA rankings from 173 to 97 between 2015 and 2018. The argument in favour of the Englishman was to have him on a contract until India’s next Asian Cup qualifier—against Singapore on October 9—and then decide on a long-term solution.
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Jamil, a former Mumbai FC teammate of AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, has created a reputation for delivering positive results with limited resources. In 2017, he helped Aizawl—a club that earned promotion from the second division a year prior—win the I-League, orchestrating one of the greatest underdog stories in Indian football. Later, he took NorthEast United and Jamshedpur FC to the semifinals and the latter to the Super Cup final last season.
Earlier, Jamil was approached for a job as the coach of the under-23 side, one that did not materialise as he was contracted with Jamshedpur until 2026.
Meanwhile, Tarkovic is a name with no prior experience in Indian football but has coached the Slovakian and Kyrgyzstan national teams in the past. Under him, Slovakia made a group stage exit in the European Championships for the first time—in EURO 2020—while Kyrgyzstan finished fourth at the CAFA Nations Cup under his coaching.
