There is information from the direction of renowned India sports journalist and 420 Grams panellist Jaydeep Basu. Indian national football team head coach Igor Stimac is anticipated to be given a one-year extension by the All India Football Federation technical committee on Monday.
Stimac took over as India’s head coach on May 15, 2019. He was recently given a three-month extension, fuelling rumours that his tenure with the Blue Tigers was coming to an end after a string of poor results. The recent defeats in the World Cup cum Asia Cup qualifier added to the misery.
The Croatian was in charge of India’s 2022 World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, where they were drawn in Group E and finished third in the group with seven points despite only winning one game. This meant that, while they did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup, they did qualify for the third round of the AFC Asian Cup in 2023.
For his part, the Croat believes he kept his half of the bargain. Stimac declared at an AIFF press conference that qualifying for the third round of the Asian Cup qualifiers was a goal achieved. However, when Stimac took over as head coach, he promised to change the way India played football.
He said, “I have my numbers which show that we have improved in ball passing accuracy and ball retention. When you are changing the style with not too many technical players you will find yourself in a difficult position.”
Stimac has a terrible record as India’s head coach, having won only two of the 15 games he has overseen, drawing six, and losing seven, for a win percentage of 13.3%. The players, on the other hand, have praised him, and it will be interesting to see how the team’s future unfolds over the next year under the Croatian’s leadership.
