India Football Coach Stephen Constantine Set for Contract Extension

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) held a meeting of its Technical Committee in Mumbai on Feb. 7, 2018. The principal matter on the agenda was the status of senior men's team coach Stephen Constantine. The English coach, handed a 14-month contract extension in early 2016, has led the team on an unprecedented run of 13 internationals without defeat including 11 wins and two draws. In the process India have matched their highest-ever FIFA world ranking of 96.

In an email statement the AIFF said the eight-member committee, chaired by former international Shyam Thapa, "unanimously agreed to offer an extension of contract to Stephen Constantine based on his performance. The Indian Senior National men's team met the dual strategic objectives (sic) of AIFF by qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 as well as by consistently achieving a top 15 FIFA ranking amongst Asian countries in the recent past. Accordingly, there was no reason for the AIFF not to offer a contract to Stephen”. The federation’s executive committee will take a final call and make Constantine an offer to stay on till after the Asian Cup.

Thapa, the former Gorkha Brigade, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan star, is among the last generation of Indian players to have any sort of success at the continental level. He was part of the Indian squad that won bronze at the 1970 Asian Games, beating Japan by a solitary goal in the bronze medal match. Indian football has been hard-pressed to replicate those sorts of results over the past four decades. Constantine’s unbeaten run (https://int.soccerway.com/teams/india/india/1144/) includes victories over teams such as Laos, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives. With the sort of resources and investment currently on view in Indian football, it would not be disrespectful to say that these are teams India should beat with regularity and ease. The two most creditable wins came against a depleted Puerto Rico team in Mumbai and a strong Kyrgyzstan in Bengaluru. In any case, the AFC Asian Cup, the continental championship for nations held every four years, was recently expanded from 16 to 24 teams—a move that virtually assures India’s continuing participation from 2019 onwards. It is pertinent to recall that Constantine’s current stint in India began with a poor World Cup qualifying campaign wherein the team only managed narrow wins over Nepal and Guam.

The Telegraph recently reported (https://www.telegraphindia.com/sports/unhappy-with-constantine-players-seek-his-removal-181345) that senior national team players met with federation officials to seek the removal of Constantine from the role of national coach. However, NewsClick reporters have confirmed that while Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sandesh Jhingan, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Eugeneson Lyngdoh did meet with federation secretary Kushal Das, the issue of the coach was not discussed. The players went to talk about logistical issues such as an increase in their daily allowances while with the national squad, giving the team formal suits to travel on match days and making arrangements with airlines so the national team could check in to flights more easily and not have to face luggage and other issues. We also confirmed that the matter had not come up for discussion at the technical committee meeting held in New Delhi on Oct. 6, 2017.

While players have refuted claims, such as those made by the Telegraph, that they think Constantine is not “good enough” to head the national team, several have openly voiced the need to play against stronger opposition. Both from the perspective of the world raking having more than merely algorithmic meaning and for the team to be better prepared for what lies ahead.

“We are at the bottom,” says Sunil Chhetri, India’s captain and leading goalgetter. “Whoever we get (at the Asian Cup) is going to be better than us. In 2011, we got Nos. 1, 3 and 5--Australia, South Korea, Bahrain. It couldn't have been worse than that mathematically. This time we got Kyrgyzstan, Macau and Myanmar (in the qualifiers). With due respect to them it wasn’t very difficult.”

Over the course of the year Chhetri wants the team to play against those ranked 8-16 in the continent (the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Palestine, etc.) so that the team has a chance to improve in real terms and not just on paper.