Panaji: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has received 170 applications for the national team coach job, significantly lower than the 291 who applied for the same position it advertised last year.The AIFF invited applications on July 4 after accepting Manolo Marquez’s resignation at its executive committee meeting on July 2.According to sources, there was a flurry of applications during the first three days, but when AIFF started compiling the list a week later, there weren’t too many big names who had applied for the position.“Last year there was massive interest in the job, many of them (current) national team coaches and those who had managed teams at the FIFA World Cup,” a senior official told TOI on Monday. “This time around, there’s also interest from across the world, but not as many high-profile candidates.”The AIFF has not revealed the list of applicants, but those in the know confirmed several names who have shown interest. These include former Liverpool stars Robbie Fowler and Harry Kewell, former Brazil U-17 coach Caio Zanardie and former Barcelona reserves manager Jordi Vinyals, who spent the last three years at Chinese Super League side Zhejiang Professional.Peter Segrt, former coach of Tajikistan, Maldives, and Afghanistan, Roel Coumans, part of the Australia coaching staff at the 2018 World Cup, and Mauritania coach Aritz Lopez Garai have also knocked on AIFF’s doors.Among the more familiar names, there’s Stephen Constantine, who has managed more matches (73) than any other coach during his two stints with the national team. The English coach, last seen in India with East Bengal in 2022-23, has won four trophies with the national team: LG Cup (2002), SAFF Cup (2015), Tri Nation Series (2017) and Inter-Continental Cup (2018).Should the AIFF choose to look at higher-profile coaches working in India, they have options in two Indian Super League (ISL) champions in Spaniards Antonio Lopez Habas and Sergio Lobera, both among the more successful coaches in the top tier of Indian football.Staikos Vergetis, I-League winner with Punjab FC, has thrown his hat in the ring, while former Mohammedan Sporting coach Andrey Chernyshov has told the AIFF that he is “happy to welcome local specialists among his coaching staff, confident in their high professionalism and discipline.”Among the home-grown coaches, Khalid Jamil, Sanjoy Sen and Santosh Kashyap top the list.The AIFF will now go through the applications and prepare a long list.The new coach will have to take over the national team and boost its chances of making it to the AFC Asian Cup 2027. India’s hopes of qualifying for the continental showpiece took a major blow after a solitary goal loss against Hong Kong in the final round of qualifiers last month, which left them at the bottom of the group.With four games left to be played and only the group toppers making it to Saudi Arabia, India must win all remaining matches (two against Singapore and one each against Bangladesh and Hong Kong) to have the best chance of qualification, ahead of Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangladesh.
