AIFF Has A Shortlist Of 20 Candidates For India Men's Football Team Head Coach's Job

All India Football Federation's (AIFF) acting secretary general M Satyanarayan on Friday said the sports body has drawn up a shortlist of 20 "competent" candidates for the job of the Indian men's team head coach. The position was left vacant after the sacking of Igor Stimac last month, following the Indian team's failure to reach the third round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers after losses to Qatar and Afghanistan. "We have shortlisted a few coaches, you can say around 20, and we have also written to some of them to see if, from the time they have applied to now, they are still available because lots of people are signing up," Satyanarayan told PTI Video.

"So we are very close to shortlisting a handful and then it will go to the executive committee, tomorrow maybe, and then we also have to involve the technical community. That decision will be taken over the next two days," the office-bearer added.

The AIFF sacked senior men's team head coach Stimac last month, terminating his contract exactly a year before it was to expire in the wake of the side's ouster from the second round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers despite getting a relatively easy draw.

Stimac, who was appointed as the head coach in 2019, was last October given an extension until 2026 by the sport's apex body.

Terming his sacking "unilateral", Stimac threatened to file a lawsuit against the national federation in the FIFA Tribunal if it failed to clear his dues within 10 days.

Satyanarayan said, "Now we must understand that the team is in a good space, we came very close to entering the third round (of World Cup Qualifiers).

"We have already finalised in October, the window whom we are playing, we are trying for September but we are not getting very good teams. But