NEW DELHI: Manolo Marq­uez has been appointed coach of the India men’s football team, over a month after Igor Stimac’s acrimonious exit.

Spaniard Marquez, 55, has been coaching league teams in India since 2020 and will take on the role for the national team “effective immediately”, the All India Football Federation said in a statement Saturday.

“We are delighted to welcome Mr Marquez to this important role,” AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey said, adding the federation was looking forward to working with the new coach “in the years ahead”.

Marquez, who has more than two decades of international experience in football management, had been the coach of FC Goa since June last year and said he was “grateful” to AIFF for the opportunity as he considers India “my second home.”

“I want to do my best to bring success to the millions of fans we have,” he said.

Former West Ham and Croatia defender Stimac was sacked in June following India team’s poor performance in World Cup qualifiers.

Stimac’s five-year tenure ended controversially, with India’s federation accusing him of using astrology to pick his teams.

Stimac, who played a World Cup semi-final for Croatia in 1998, became India coach in 2019 and they briefly broke into the top 100 of FIFA’s world rankings for only the second time in nearly three decades.

Once called “a sleeping giant” of the sport by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, India are currently ranked 124th.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2024