Khalid Jamil: Indian's men's team to be mentored by homegrown coach after 13 years

He is the first Indian head coach to mentor the national side after a gap of 13 years.

In the presence of AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey, Vice President NA Haris, Treasurer Kipa Ajay, the members of the Executive and Technical committees, along with both Dronacharya Awardee coaches Bimal Ghosh and Armando Colaco, and Dhyan Chand Awardee Shabbir Ali, the AIFF’s Technical Director Syed Sabir Pasha and National Teams Director Subrata Paul presented a SWOT analysis of all the three shortlisted coaches – Khalid Jamil, Stephen Constantine, and Štefan Tarkovič.

Colaco and Ali expressed their views that the AIFF should prioritise selecting an Indian coach for the senior men’s national team.

All three opined that during their respective coaching careers, they, too, were once Indian coaches with no national team experience.

"However, they believe that Indian coaches need to be given a fair chance to prove themselves," AIFF said in a statement.

Technical Committee chairperson IM Vijayan, a Padma and Arjuna awardee, shared his experiences during his playing days, and said that India had a much higher FIFA ranking with the likes of Sukhwinder Singh and Syed Nayeemuddin as the head coaches.

Thus, he strongly recommended Khalid Jamil, as he has already been conferred with the AIFF’s Men’s Coach of the Year Award on two occasions (2023-24 and 2024-25).

Thereafter, the majority of the house accepted the recommenations of the TC. The AIFF Vice President Shri Haris, along with members such as Pinky Bompal Magar, Thongam Tababi Devi, Climax Lawrence, Menla Ethenpa, Arif Ali, Mohan Lal, and others, opined that for the betterment of Indian football, the federation must give an opportunity to an Indian coach.

Suggestions of Stephen Constantine also came in from a few members of the EC. However, after detailed discussions, the house decided in favour of Khalid Jamil.

The house felt that since India are set to participate in the CAFA Nations Cup 2025 later this month, followed by back-to-back AFC Asian Cup Final Round Qualifier matches against Singapore in October, Jamil would be a better option, since he has been working with Indian players on a regular basis.