Indian team got new head coach

After the Indian cricket team, now it is the turn of the Indian football team. 11 days after Gautam Gambhir became the new head coach of the cricket team, the football team also got a new coach. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has appointed Spain's experienced coach Manolo Marquez as the new head coach of Team India. On Saturday, July 20, the AIFF Executive Committee meeting was held, in which it was decided to hand over the responsibility of the national men's team to Marquez under the chairmanship of the federation's head Kalyan Chaubey. Marquez is currently the coach of Indian Super League club FC Goa.

The AIFF had removed former coach Igor Stimac only last month. During Stimac's tenure, Team India failed to reach the third round of the World Cup qualifiers, after which it was decided to remove him. Since then, the search for a new coach for the Indian team was on. This search stopped at Marquez, who has been coaching in India's top league, ISL, for the last nearly 4 years.

In a press release issued by the federation, it has been told that 55-year-old Marquez will take charge of the Indian team with immediate effect. However, it has not been told at the moment how many years of contract he has been given, but it is believed that it is for 3 years. However, the surprising thing is that in the current season i.e. 2014-25, he will also take charge of his ISL club FC Goa along with Team India. For this, an agreement was reached between the club and the AIFF and Federation President Choubey thanked Goa. After this season, he will be fully part of Team India.
Marquez has been a part of the ISL since 2020 and during this time he has joined two different clubs, where he has worked a lot with many Indian players, especially the youth. He became the coach of Hyderabad FC in 2020 and was a part of it till 2023. During this, Hyderabad was the runner-up in the League Shield race in two consecutive ISL seasons, while once it also captured the ISL Championship. After this he joined Goa in 2023. Prior to this, he also worked as the manager of Las Palmas Club in Spain's La Liga.