AIFF hands Igor Stimac contract extension till September 2022

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The 53-year-old Croatian took over the national team in May 2019.

All India Football Federation’s Technical Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Shyam Thapa met via a video conference today (July 19, 2021). Leave of absence was granted to Mr. Pradip Kumar Datta and Mr. Sundar Raman while all other members attended the meeting. Mr. Savio Medeira, AIFF interim Technical Director, head coach Igor Stimac and AIFF General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das were also present.

National Head Coach Mr. Igor Stimac made a presentation on the performance graph of the Senior Men’s National Team wherein he highlighted about the change in football philosophy, and emergence of future generation of the Blue Tigers in the National Team set-up. Igor Stimac has been on contract as Head Coach since May 2019.

The Committee deliberated at length and reached a consensus that in view of the external factors which has had a huge impact on the footballing world in general. With the National Team set to begin their campaign in their quest to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023, Head Coach Igor Stimac be given an extension of his contract till September 2022. The AFC Asian Cup qualifiers will be played from February 2022 to September 2022.

The Chairman requested Igor Stimac to come up with a detailed long term plan to take Indian Football forward together.

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Igor Stimac's record as India head coach

Under Igor Stimac, the Indian national have won only two of their 15 matches. Seven of those games have resulted in defeats. In the recent World Cup qualifiers, India won only one game and drew four while losing on two occasions, They eventually finished third in their group to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup third round qualifiers.

India's only win in the qualifiers came against Bangladesh, who also held the Blue Tigers to a 1-1 draw at Kolkata. The other win for the national team under Igor Stimac has come against Thailand.

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