Igor Stimac reveals plans to take India to FIFA World Cup

Igor Stimac also outlined a few templates which will help the national team to reach greater heights.

The Indian National Team have been the talk of the town for quite some time now, thanks to their heroics on the pitch in the last six months or so. They have won three international titles on their home soil and have also confirmed a place at the upcoming Asian Games.

But, the focus shifts to what is coming up in the next one year or so. The Blue Tigers will play the joint qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2027 AFC Asian Cup alongside the Asian Games. India have shaped up very well as a team under head coach Igor Stimac.

Ahead of what is going to be a very crucial and testing phase for Indian Football, India’s head coach Igor Stimac spoke exclusively to Boria Majumder from Revzsports. Some excerpts are below.

World Cup aspirations

India are currently ranked outside the top 10 in Asia and sit far away from the top 80 in the world. The World Cup seems like a distant dream too. Speaking about the same, Igor Stimac claimed that it is his goal which has now also become an obsession to take India to the World Cup. 

“Yes, it is, and that’s why I said to you it is my dream. Every human being lives with a certain goal in mind. They pursue that goal with single-minded focus. Whether or not they achieve it, they do their best to get there. My goal, and this has now turned into an obsession of sorts with me, is to take India to the World Cup,” he said.

He further mentioned that in order to get close to the high profile teams in Asia it is very important to give the national team players more time to play together and invest at least half the amount that these nations do. Moreover, he also said that the team needs enough time to prepare ahead of the qualifiers in November. 

“There are two things I need to tell you here. The first is, if we want to come close to leading Asian football, and become as good as say Japan, Iran and Saudi (Arabia), then we need to provide our senior national team much more time for work than what these countries do at the moment and invest at least 50 per cent of what they do.

He added, “Second, if we don’t collectively make sure that the team gets enough time prior to the November FIFA window – The first (WCQ 2026) game away versus Kuwait, and then Qatar at home three days later – we are immediately out of the running. So it is of paramount importance to collectively put our best foot forward in the next three months.”

Plan Ahead

The head coach was questioned about his goals for the next phase of his coaching career with the national team. Igor Stimac opened up and mentioned some very important targets which also includes allowing the PIO to represent the national team. He also spoke about taking India to the top 80 in the world and top 12 in Asia.

“FIFA (rankings) Top 80, Asia Top 12, World Cup 2026 3rd round qualification, apply the Senior National Team Philosophy to the U-19 and U-17 teams.

“And I want to do these things by following a few set templates:

1. Provide senior national team players additional time to work with senior national team coaching staff during the year.
2. By getting on board additional coaching and support staff for the senior national team.
3. Performance coach/sports psychologist.
4. Permanent match analyst.
5. Use more sports science.

“I will also want to engage the AIFF on discussing the idea of excluding foreign players from the I-League. Finally, we should think of requesting the government to allow Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) to represent India. These are some of what I am keen on, and will be following in the next phase,” he told Revsportz.

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