Croatian World Cupper Igor Stimac set to be appointed Indian football team coach
New Delhi, May 9: Croatia's World Cupper and former manager Igor Stimac is set to become Indian football team's head coach after the AIFF's Technical Committee Thursday recommended his name for the top job.
The 51-year-old Stimac, a member of the Croatian team that finished third in the 1998 World Cup, got the nod from the Technical Committee which interviewed four shortlisted candidates on Thursday.
"We have recommended Igor Stimac's name to the All India Football Federation's Executive Committee after interviewing all the four candidates. We found him as best suited to become India coach," Technical Committee Chairman Shyam Thapa told PTI.
The AIFF is likely to officially announce Stimac's appointment as India coach on Friday. Stimac's contract is likely to be for three years initially and his first assignment will be the Kings Cup international tournament in Thailand.
Stimac's first match as India coach will be against Caribbean nation Curacao in the Kings Cup at Buriram in Thailand on June 5. A national camp is expected to begin here from May 20.
The India head coach's position has been lying vacant after Stephen Constantine quit the post following India's AFC Asian Cup campaign earlier this year.
Stimac was the only candidate who turned up in person for the interview while the other three -- South Korean Lee Min-sung, Spaniard Albert Roca and Hakan Ericson of Sweden -- were interviewed via skype.
The newly-appointed Technical Director Doru Isac was also present during the interview process.
After the interview process, the Technical Committee had a long meeting of nearly four hours in which the members debated at length about the suitability of the candidates. The discussion was basically about choosing between Stimac and Roca, who had a successful two-year stint as Bengaluru FC head coach in 2016-18.
Stimac's impressive credentials as former player and manager clinched the issue in his favour.
"His (Stimac's) experience as former player and manager is huge, so the Committee was unanimous in the decision to pick him. Salary-wise and in every aspect I feel he is best suited. Indian football will be in safe hands under him," Thapa, a former India player himself, added.
Roca is basically a club coach and except for a short stint as El Salvador manager (2014-15), he had never been at the helm of affairs of a national team. His demand for a higher salary, which was above the affordable limit of the AIFF, also did not help his cause.
Besides Thapa and Isac, other members of the Technical Committee who attended the meeting were Henry Menezes, Prasanta Banerjee, Pradip Datta, G P Palguna and Sundar Raman. Ishfaq Ahmed was granted leave of absence.
AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das and national team director Abhishek Yadav were also present as ex-officio members.
Born in the small town of Metkovic in the then Yugoslavia, Stimac has played in 53 international matches for Croatia as center-back between 1990 and 2002. He played at Euro 1996 and at the 1998 World Cup, when Croatia finished third.
Before that he played in 14 matches for Yugoslavia Under-20 team in 1987.
In club football, he played in 322 matches in all from 1985 to 2002. He had three spells with Croatian side Hajduk Split and also played for Cadiz in Spain and for Derby County and West Ham United in England.
As coach, he was in charge of the Croatian national team from 2012 to 2013 and also guided the team to 2014 World Cup Finals. He had brief spells in charge of Croatian teams like Hajduk Split, Cibalia, NK Zagreb and Zadar before trying his hand at Iranian club Sepahan and Qatari side Al-Shahania.
Owing to the Indian team's spirited showing in the AFC Asian Cup and a run of 13-match unbeaten streak prior to that, more than 250 candidates, including some top names from Europe, have applied for the job.
The list included the likes of France's World Cup winning coach Raymond Domenech, former England managers Sven-Goran Eriksson and Sam Allardyce.
The list was pruned down to 40 and finally only four candidates were shortlisted for interview.
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Sadananda Gowda expresses pain over factionalism in Karnataka BJP, urges central leadership to act
Bengaluru: Senior BJP leader D V Sadananda Gowda on Thursday expressed pain over factionalism in the Karnataka unit of his party and called it a " big tragedy". The former Union Minister also expressed displeasure over the party high command's delay in taking action, despite his letters and urged them to intervene and to act against those indulging in "indiscipline".
"There were Maharashtra and Haryana polls, as polls are a big challenge, it is natural to keep aside party issues in the states, where there are no polls, for later. So there may be some delay, but I don't think they will be silent," Gowda said responding to a question on factionalism within the party and high command's silence on it.
Addressing reporters here, he said, "However, there is truth in your question, because I have written two letters, one earlier and the other recently as dissent started brewing. But there was no reply for both, which made me feel that the central leadership was not paying attention to issues here." "It is a tragedy that Karnataka, which is regarded as the gateway for the BJP to south India, today has several doors (referring to groups within)," he added.
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A group of party leaders led by senior MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, that include BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi are critical of state leadership, especially President B Y Vijayendra, and are even holding parallel agitations over the Waqf land issue, after staying away from protests held by the party on the same issue. Yatnal and Jarkiholi have been openly critical of Vijayendra, accusing him of indulging in "adjustment politics" with the ruling Congress, and trying to keep the party in his clutches, along with his father and veteran leader B S Yediyurappa.
Recalling that there was much stronger groupism in the party earlier between the factions led by stalwarts, who built the party in the state -- late Ananth Kumar and Yediyurappa, Gowda, who had also served as the state president in the past, said, "but the rift never came to the streets then."
"In Karnataka BJP's history, this is the first time that the internal confusions within the party have come to the streets. This is painful. None of the so called self styled senior leaders of the party in the state, including me, are in a situation to set this right, while some are not even trying to set things right as it will benefit them, there are such leaders too in the party here. So high command has to intervene," he added.
Despite the ruling Congress in Karnataka giving issues to the opposition in a "golden bowl", Gowda said, the internal differences in the party is overshadowing it, and this has pained the party workers.
"Now I don't have any other responsibility other than being part of the party's core committee, but I'm pained looking at the situation of the party that gave me everything including positions of governing the state..... This is a big tragedy," he said.
Appealing to the party leadership to have a "serious look" at the party affairs in Karnataka before the Delhi elections, the former CM even requested them not to compromise on discipline. If action is taken against those who are wrong after detailed inquiry, the party will unite once again, he said. "People of the state want BJP."
Pointing to the saffron party's defeat in the recent by-polls in Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna assembly segments, Gowda said, people are not discussing Congress' maladministration, but division and groupism in the BJP. "Despite the BJP having good ideas and agenda, we lack a strong system to encash it." BJP's weakness of groupism has become Congress' strength, he added. Replying to a question on Yatnal and team not accepting Vijayendra as president, Gowda said, "The state president was appointed by the national leadership and that decision has to be accepted. If anyone has reservations about it, they should tell the leadership and not discuss it on the streets."
