Looking back at Stephen Constantine's stints with Indian Football Team

Stephen Constantine had two stints with the Indian football team.

The race for the next India football team head coach is heating up as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has now narrowed things down to three contenders for the position. It has emerged that Stephen Constantine is actually a favourite to take over the Blue Tigers for what might be his third stint as their head coach.

When it comes to coaching the Indian side, Constantine towers over his competitors, Khalid Jamil and Stefan Tarkovic. The 62-year-old Englishman has been coaching since 1999 and has over two and a half decades of coaching experience, having managed multiple international teams in his career as well.

Constantine has had memorable stints as the head coach of the Indian football team. He’s guided the Blue Tigers to multiple trophies and shown the ability to steady the ship when things have started to go wrong. Here we have a look at Stephen Constantine’s previous coaching stints with India.

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Stephen Constantine’s initial stint as the India head coach (2002-2005)

The very first time that Stephen Constantine took over the India national team head coach role was back in 2002. He impressed the All India Football Federation (AIFF) hierarchy after his impressive work as the head coach of the Nepal football taem in the years before that. Constantine had led Nepal to a runners-up place in the 1999 South Asian Games and helped them punch above their weight.

The Englishman took over the Blue Tigers in 2002, at a point when the Blue Tigers were in the 123rd position in the FIFA rankings. Constantine’s first game turned out to be a reality check, as India suffered a 3-0 loss to Jamaica during their tour of England before also playing a 0-0 draw against the African side.

The English gaffer irked the fans’ wrath by losing the opening game of the 2003 SAFF Championship to Pakistan. The Blue Tigers went on to somewhat recover in the championship, defeating Pakistan in the third-place playoff to secure a third-place finish.

Constantine did help India bag the silver medal at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, which was probably the only prominent success in his initial stint with India. However, India only won one of the 20+ games in his initial stint and lost way too many games, causing them to fall off to the 134th position when Constantine was sacked in April 2005.

Stephen Constantine makes strong return in second stint

Stephen Constantine was brought back as the India head coach in 2015, a decade after being relieved of his duties. He returned to the role as a much more experienced manager, having coached a number of different clubs and national teams over that period. It proved to be fruitful in helping Constantine get the stuttering Indian side on the right track of progression.

When Constantine was appointed, India were languishing in the 171st position in the FIFA World rankings. He was able to make an almost instant impact after taking over the Indian side, as India won the first game under him with a 2-0 win over Nepal to move into the third round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The results also helped India climb up to the 147th position in the world rankings.

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India, however, had a reality check in the group of the World Cup qualifiers. They won just one game in a group consisting of Oman, Turkmenistan, and Guam. However, India’s fortunes began to light up after the disappointing World Cup qualifiers campaign.

They won the 2015 SAFF Championship title, defeating Afghanistan in the final and scoring 11 goals in the tournament as well. After losing two games to Iran and Turkmenistan in March (2016), the Blue Tigers went on a memorable unbeaten run under Constantine.

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From June 2 (2016) to March 27 (2018), the Blue Tigers went on an unbeaten run in which they won 10 of their 12 games and went through the entire year of 2017 without a single loss. In 2017, they also won the Tri-Nation Series and excelled at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Constantine was able to help India qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, after having missed the 2015 edition.

The Blue Tigers also won the 2018 Intercontinental Cup and reached the 2018 SAFF Championship final, where a relatively young Indian side lost to the Maldives. Even though India failed to win their three friendly matches before the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, they started the competition in a strong manner with a stunning 4-1 win over Thailand.

However, two back-to-back losses to the UAE and Bahrain teams caused an unfortunate elimination for India. Stephen Constantine decided to leave his role as the India head coach soon after the exit, ushering in the Igor Stimac era soon after.

Should Stephen Constantine be brought for a third stint with Indian Football team?

Although Stephen Constantine earned criticism for his ‘boring football’ in his stint as the India head coach, he had results to show for his brilliance. This was basically the result of a pragmatic tactical approach in which he encouraged a sturdy defensive shape and his side to hit teams on counter-attacks, often used long-ball tactics to hurt opponents.

However, these tactics actually worked in the Indian players’ favour for the majority of his stint and helped Constantine get the best out of many individuals during his time.

That is why the 62-year-old might be the perfect solution to get the Indian football team out of their precarious situation and potentially help them qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, having helped India achieve that in the past as well.

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