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Former India player Jamil named national football coach
He becomes the first Indian in 13 years to hold this position.
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AFP - Fri, 01, Aug 2025
- 16:26 EDT
- 17
Khalid Jamil / Wikipedia
Former India player Khalid Jamil was on Aug 1 appointed coach of the struggling national men's football team, a month after Spain's Manolo Marquez stepped down following poor results.
Jamil, 48, was preferred over England's Stephen Constantine and Stefan Tarkovic of Slovakia, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said in a statement.
AIFF committee members, including president Kalyan Chaubey, said they believed that Indian coaches "need to be given a fair chance to prove themselves".
Jamil is the first Indian to coach the senior national team in 13 years after Savio Medeira led the side from 2011 to 2012.
Kuwait-born Jamil, a former midfielder who appeared in 40 international matches for India between 1998 and 2006, has been coaching local Indian club Jamshedpur F.C.
A few members of the AIFF executive committee discussed having Constantine, who had two coaching stints with the Indian seniors earlier, back at the helm but Jamil was regarded a better option as "he has been working with Indian players on a regular basis".
Jamil, who retired in 2009, has managed top Indian clubs and in 2023 joined Jamshedpur as their head coach.
India are set to participate in the CAFA Nations Cup 2025 this month, followed by back-to-back AFC Asian Cup final round qualifiers matches against Singapore in October.
Indian football is in crisis with the upcoming season of the top-tier Indian Super League in doubt over a dispute between the federation and its commercial partner.
India's men are 133rd in the FIFA rankings -- their lowest placing in nearly a decade -- and have won just one of their last 16 matches.
Marquez stepped down last month as head coach after just one year and one win in eight games.
Once called "a sleeping giant" of the sport by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, India are struggling to qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
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