"When I received that letter I was in the hospital," Igor Stimac on heart surgery before Asian Cup

Igor Stimac went through the surgery a month before the competition.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) terminated the contract of Igor Stimac recently and relieved him of his duties as the Indian team’s head coach. The Croatian was shocked and seems to be dismayed at the manner of his sacking, having never officially being ‘fired’ from a managerial job in the past.

Stimac decided to speak out on a number of unknown secrets in a virtual conference with the media. One of the major surprises that he revealed was that he had to undergo emergency heart surgery in December (2023) because of the sheer pressure of the Indian team’s head coach role.

The Croatian revealed that he needed to undergo the surgery in December 2023, only a month before the AFC Asian Cup.

He stated, “When I received that final warning letter, that was December 2nd (2023), nobody knows this – but I was in the hospital. I was really disturbed with everything that was going on, stressed and suffering from obvious problems at that time. I had immediate heart surgery, getting two stents and after being released home, I was not ready to speak with anyone or find excuses.

“I was putting myself on the line by going to the Asian Cup, to organize the camp for the team although I should’ve been at home resting. But, I wanted to give my best shot with my boys and that’s what we did. So, in such conditions, I went there to defend the colours of the country, although I’m not Indian. I’m proud of how we did it, never mind there was no points or goals, but we fought the best we could,” he also claimed.

Stimac also revealed that the decision to bring in Trevor Sinclair in an assistant coach role for the Asian Cup was because he wasn’t sure about his health and feared for himself falling seriously ill during the tournament.

Also read: “We were stealing the scouting platforms…,” Igor Stimac makes shock revelation

He added: “Many journalists asked why I invited Trevor Sinclair to help us and now you will probably understand why I needed help from someone who knows how I can work and whom I can trust. After having the surgery at the beginning of December, I had to make sure that someone is there with me that if anything happens to me that he can help Mahesh (Gawli) and the coaches to organize the work.”

Fortunately, Stimac has been able to recover well from the heart surgery and is in much better shape physically now. But, his devotion to the Indian team despite health problems shows that Stimac really cared for the success of the team before being sacked.

Reacting to media reports surrounding Stimac’s comments, the AIFF issued a statement on Friday evening, saying, “It has come to our attention that former India men’s team head coach Igor Stimac has made certain remarks in the media pertaining to functioning of the All India Football Federation and some of its senior officials. The AIFF will issue a statement in this regards in the next 48 hours.”

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