Igor Stimac is all set to continue as Indian football team head coach. The technical committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Sunday recommended the extension of his contract till the end of the Asian Cup Finals to be held next year.
The technical committee, which met in the city under the chairmanship of former India captain IM Vijayan, discussed the performance of the Indian men’s team under the Croat and recommended to the executive committee his continuation.
This will be Stimac’s third contract extension after he took charge of the national men’s team in May 2019 on a two-year tenure. In 2021, he was given a contract extension of a few months till September of that year. He was then given another tenure extension of one year which was to end this month.
“In the first agenda of the meeting, the technical committee recommended the extension of senior men’s team head coach Igor Stimac’s contract till the AFC Asian Cup 2023,” an AIFF release said. The Asian Cup was supposed to be held in China who pulled out due to the Covid-19 situation in that country.
Stimac’s continuation was on expected lines after he guided the national team to the Cup Finals with a dominant show in the qualifiers here in June. It will now be just a matter of formality for the executive committee to stamp its seal of approval in its meeting on Monday.
The first assignment for Stimac, a part of Croatia’s 1998 World Cup third-place finishing team, after contract extension will be the two international friendlies in Vietnam. India play Singapore on September 24 and Vietnam three days later.
Former India defender Manoranjan Bhattacharya, who was not keen to continue as deputy chairman of the committee, attended the meeting. It was decided to discontinue the participation of the Indian Arrows in the I-League because of the difficulty in fulfilling the AFC licensing criteria. The fund will now be invested in creating a new youth league. “The committee also recommended appointing more women coaches across the country for the women’s national teams,” the AIFF statement said.
