AIFF technical team to shortlist coach candidates in midweek meeting

The technical committee of the AIFF, headed by former captain IM Vijayan, will meet on Wednesday to shortlist the candidates for the appointment of the head coach of the senior men's national team after the federation received 170 applications for the vacant post.

After Spaniard Manolo Marquez and the All India Football Federation mutually agreed to part ways earlier this month following the team's downward spiral, the national body invited applications for the top job with July 13 as deadline.

"The technical committee will meet on July 23, review the applications and prepare a shortlist to be given to the AIFF executive committee. The AIFF EC will then take the final call (on the appointment)," a source privy to the development told PTI.

It is learnt that the AIFF is in favour of making the appointment quickly as there is a FIFA international match window in September and India play their AFC Asian Cup qualifying round games on October 9 and 14 -- against Singapore home and away.

In this scenario, the shortlisted candidates may not be called for interviews which will take much more time before the actual appointment. The AIFF has already written to the applicants about how much they want (as remuneration) and what is their vision of the national team.

"It's not the start of season and so the AIFF has to appoint a coach quickly. But it is up to the TC to decide if they want to interview the candidates.

"It's likely that the TC will shortlist the candidates and present it to the EC for the appointment. The TC will present the EC the details through a presentation why they are shortlisting the candidates."  Then, it is up to the executive committee to take a call on the appointment. The EC can also ask the TC to recommend more names and ask further questions, the source said.

Other members of the technical committee include Shabbir Ali, Victor Amalraj, Climax Lawrence, Harjinder Singh and Santosh Singh.

Meanwhile, among the 170 candidates who have applied for the job are some big names like former Liverpool stars Robbie Fowler -- who was briefly in charge of East Bengal also -- and Harry Kewell, as well as Peter Segrt, former coach of Tajikistan, Maldives and Afghanistan.

Former India head coach Stephen Constantine has also applied for the post. The 62-year-old Anglo-Cypriot has been in charge of the Indian team twice earlier -- from 2002 to 2005, and from 2015 to the Asian Cup in 2019.

Constantine has also coached East Bengal in the Indian Super League in 2022-23, and was till recently head coach of Pakistan. He has earlier worked as head coach of countries like Nepal, Malawi and Rwanda.

Not many Indians have applied for the job with only Khalid Jamil, Sanjoy Sen and Santosh Kashyap being the top coaches among them.

Sen won the 2024-25 Santosh Trophy with Bengal and the I-League with Mohun Bagan in 2014-15.

Former Mohammedan Sporting coach Andrey Chernyshov, Odisha FC's Sergio Lobera, Inter Kashi gaffer Antonio Lopez Habas, an ISL winner with ATK and Mohun Bagan Super Giant, and Staikos Vergetis, I-League winner with Punjab FC, are also in the fray.