Manolo Marquez appointed as Indian men's football team head coach

He replaces Igor Stimac, a former Croatian footballer, who was sacked as the India men's football team head coach earlier in June after the team's poor performance in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification campaign. Senior officials of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) held a virtual meeting and decided to terminate Stimac's services as the head coach.

For the appointment of the head coach, AIFF's Executive Committee meeting, chaired by AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey, was held at the Football House in New Delhi, on Saturday, as per an AIFF release.

The meeting was attended by AIFF Vice President NA Haris, Treasurer Kipa Ajay, and members Thongam Tababi Devi, Valanka Natasha Alemao, Pinky Bompal Magar, Menla Ethenpa, Vijay Bali, Syed Husnain Ali Naqvi, Neibou Sekhose, Maloji Raje Chhatrapati, Mohan Lal, Syed Imtiaz Husain, Arif Ali, Bhaichung Bhutia, Shabbir Ali, Climax Lawrence, and Acting Secretary General M Satyanarayan. Executive Committee members, Lalnghinglova Hmar and IM Vijayan attended the meeting via video conferencing.

Ajit Banerjee, President, Indian Football Association (West Bengal), Caitano Fernandes, President, Goa Football Association, Mulrajsinh Chudasama, Secretary, Gujarat State Football Association, Anuj Gupta, President, Football Delhi, and Rochak Langer, COO, FSDL, were present as special invitees.

The Committee, in the first order of the day, deliberated on the appointment of the new head coach for the Senior Men's National Team, and selected Manolo Marquez for the job, effective immediately.

During the 2024-25 season, Marquez will continue his role as the head coach of the first team at FC Goa, handling both responsibilities concurrently before assuming the national coaching role on a full-time basis.

Commenting on the development, AIFF President Chaubey stated, "We are delighted to welcome Marquez to this important role and are also thankful to FC Goa for their generosity of releasing him for national duty. We look forward to working with Marquez in the years ahead. The AIFF, FC Goa, and Marquez will collaborate closely to ensure there is minimal impact between the two jobs and strive to achieve the best possible results for all involved."

Responding to the appointment, Marquez said, "It is an honour for me to be the National Football Team coach of India, a country I consider my second home. India and its people are something I feel attached to and I feel a part of since I first came to this beautiful country. I want to do my best to bring success to the millions of fans we have. I am very grateful to FC Goa for allowing us the flexibility to help the national team during the coming season while I am still the club's head coach. I am grateful to the AIFF for this opportunity and we hope to do great things for football."

Aged 55, Manolo Marquez has extensive knowledge and experience of Indian football and coaching national team players, especially youngsters. Many national team players in the last few years were called up from his Hyderabad FC team.

Marquez has been coaching in India since 2020. He has coached two ISL clubs; his first stint was with Hyderabad FC (2020-23), before he switched over to FC Goa (2023-present). He is an ISL Cup winner with Hyderabad FC in 2021-22. Overall, Marquez had an extensive coaching career in Spain: Las Palmas (top division) and Las Palmas B, Espanyol B, Badalona, Prat, Europa (third division).

On other developments, based on the recommendation of the AIFF President Chaubey, the Executive Committee of the AIFF has resolved today to appoint Anilkumar Prabhakaran as the Secretary General of the AIFF.

The Executive Committee has also accepted the resignation of Anilkumar from the AIFF Executive Committee and all other sub-committees he was a part of. Anilkumar's appointment shall be subject to the internal protocols and induction procedures as required by the AIFF Constitution and he shall take charge upon the completion of the same. (ANI)