New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) The All India Football Federation’s Technical Committee (TC) met virtually on Wednesday to shortlist the applicants for the Senior Men’s Indian Football Team head coach role. The TC carefully reviewed 170 applications received earlier this month and narrowed it down to three candidates – Khalid Jamil, Stephen Constantine, and Štefan Tarkovič.

The TC has recommended the resumes of the three shortlisted candidates to the Executive Committee, which will take the final call on who the next Blue Tigers head coach will be.

The AIFF executive committee met on July 2 and approved the decision on Manolo Marquez’s exit as the Indian men’s football team head coach. His exit followed after AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey had confirmed that Marquez’s tenure would be under review at the said meeting.

“The AIFF Technical Committee (TC), chaired by former India captain I.M. Vijayan, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, recommended to the Executive Committee that a new head coach be appointed for the Senior Men’s National Team through an open application process.

“The members collectively decided on the mutual termination of Head Coach Manolo Márquez’s contract. A new advertisement will be floated, inviting applications for the post,” read the statement by the AIFF.

Despite a poor run of results, concerns finally arose after India’s poor start to the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers as the Men in Blue played out a draw against Bangladesh in the opening game before an injury-time winner in the 0-1 loss against Hong Kong further added to their woes.

The Spaniard was appointed head coach after the fiery exit by previous head coach Igor Stimac in 2024 and has gone on to lead the Blue Colts in eight games with only one win, a 3-0 victory over the Maldives in a friendly. In the end, he leaves with a win percentage of 13%.

Marquez first landed in India ahead of the 2020-21 Indian Super League season to take charge of Hyderabad FC, where he won the Indian Super League title in 2022. In his three years with The Nizams, Marquez took charge of 74 games, out of which he won 37 and drew 21. He went on to take the helm at FC Goa and led them to a Super Cup triumph.

–IANS

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