NEW DELHI, July 19: All India Football Federation (AIFF) acting general secretary M Satyanarayan on Friday said the sports governing body has shortlisted 20 “competent” candidates for the post of head coach of the India men’s national team.

The position was created after Igor Stimac was sacked last month after the Indian team failed to reach the third round of the World Cup qualifiers after losses to Qatar and Afghanistan.

“We have selected a few coaches, say 20 or so, and we have also written to some of them to see if they are still available from the time they applied till now because a lot of people are applying,” Satyanarayan told PTI Video.

“So we’re very close to selecting a handful and then it goes to the executive committee, maybe tomorrow, and then we have to involve the technical community as well. That decision will be made in the next two days,” the official added.

The AIFF fired the men’s head coach, Stimac, last month, terminating his contract exactly a year before it was due to expire. The club was knocked out in the second round of the World Cup qualifiers despite a relatively easy draw.

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

Stimac called his dismissal “unilateral” and threatened to take legal action against the national association at the FIFA tribunal if it did not pay his membership fees within ten days.

Satyanarayan said: “Now we have to understand that the team is in a good position, we were very close to reaching the third round (of World Cup qualifying).

“We’ve already finished the window in October where we’re going to play, we’re trying to do it in September, but we’re not getting very good teams. But we have to finish it, so at the moment we’re looking at teams that are a bit lower than us, but we have to use that window.

“So let’s see who the final candidates are. Then we have to talk to them and then the decision will be made, and well-considered.”

Satyanarayan, who has held the post since Shaji Prabhakaran’s resignation in November last year, declined to name the candidates who have applied for the top job.

“I can’t say because that wouldn’t be fair. Some coaches who have signed up still have a contract and don’t want to be named.

“It’s just a matter of few days, so it’s not that easy to do because we had a lot of applications. We are very happy to know that a lot of big coaches are keen to come to India, which means the potential is there. So let’s wait and see,” Satyanarayan said.

The AIFF and Stimac have often clashed over key issues concerning the team, with Stimac holding the association’s president, Kalyan Chaubey, responsible for India’s failure to progress beyond the second round of the World Cup qualifiers.

Asked about the criteria for selecting the head coach, Satyanarayan said: “Yes, definitely, that is something we will focus on, so depending on what we want and what they bring to the table, that decision will be taken, it should happen very soon.”

He added: “At the moment we don’t have any plans for the period until March next year, so it also depends on what the coach wants to do. Maybe he has a long-term plan, so now we are still at a very early stage.

“What we have done with the ones we have is also a difference, you have club coaches, you have national coaches. There is a difference between them because the club coaches have the players with them for almost a whole year, national coaches is a bit different, so all those things will be discussed.

“We have a number of competent people who can do that.”

The retirement of the legendary Sunil Chhetri has left a huge hole in the team and it doesn’t look like that hole will be filled anytime soon.

Satyanarayan further said: “We also don’t have time because if you look at September, now we have the whole month of August and we also want to act quickly because the boys have also played well.

“We will see, this year the Durand Cup starts, maybe some names will come up so we will see. I don’t want to say who it is but a handful of them can replace him and we saw that in the last game, the boys played well without Sunil.” (PTI)