Romanian Doru Isac picked as AIFF's technical director

Romanian Doru Isac has been named as the technical director of All India Football Federation for a three-year tenure, technical committee chairman Shyam Thapa said Friday.

The 56-year-old Isac was one of the three candidates interviewed by the AIFF's technical committee, headed by Thapa, on Monday. The technical committee had sent its recommendations to the executive committee of the AIFF to take a final decision.

Gaioz Darsadze of Georgia and Jorge Castelo of Portugal were the other two candidates interviewed by the technical committee.

The post of technical director remained vacant since Australian Scott O'Donnell decided to quit in 2017. Former India player and coach Savio Medeira was looking after the post as interim TD since then.

The well-travelled Isac has worked in various managerial capacities as well as technical director in many European and Asian countries. He is widely known as assistant to Arsene Wenger at Japanese side Nagoya Grampus Eight from 1997 to 2002. He also has worked with former Portugal and Real Madrid manager Carlos Queiros as well as under the widely travelled manager Bora Milutinovic.

"The AIFF has decided to name Isac as technical director. Based on what we have recommended the executive committee of the AIFF has taken a decision. We are happy with his appointment as we found him a suitable candidate," Thapa told PTI on Friday.

"His tenure will be of three years initially and there will be a review of his performance after that and decide whether his term will be extended or not. His profile is impressive, he is a FIFA Diploma degree holder and held managerial positions and as technical director in various countries, including in Asia," he added.

Isac was only one of the three candidates who decided to come to India and face the technical committee in person, but interestingly, due to visa issues, he could not come out of the New Delhi airport. He was interviewed via skype from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The other two candidates did not come to India and they were interviewed via skype.

It was also learnt that the Romanian was the first preference of the panel for the post.

"We have been told by AIFF to mark number one, two and three among the three names and we did that. We left it to the AIFF to make the final appointment. The salary and perks of the person to be appointed was a consideration. The AIFF must have found him (Isac) suitable in this aspect also," the former India international said.

Isac began as manager of AS Nancy Academy in France in 1990-91 before switching to youth level managership in Japan. After a five-year stint at Nagoya Grampus Eight, his profile included working as assistant manager at his country's top side, Rapid Bucharest, and in some clubs in Qatar.

Before he appeared for the interview, Isac was serving as sports director of Yokohama F Marinos in Japan.

Thapa said Isac's main focus should be on youth development, coach education, local coach development and scouting of talent.

"He should not focus on the national teams only. Youth development is one he should focus on. Then coach development is another big issue, we need qualified Indian coaches in large numbers," he said.

"Then, scouting of talent from all over the country is another important job he will be tasked for. The coaches cannot do that. He will have to visit all over the country, visit the academies, districts and states to scout talent," Thapa signed off.