Official: Kerala Blasters announce Kibu Vicuna as head coach

The ISL side parted ways with Eelco Schattorie earlier today.

Kerala Blasters have announced that Kibu Vicuna would take over as their head coach for the upcoming season of the Indian Super League. This news was exclusively confirmed by Khel Now last month.

Vicuna won the I-League title with Mohun Bagan in 2019-20. The Spaniard was instrumental in the Mariners’ first victorious campaign in that keague since 2014-15.

Kerala had earlier announced this morning that they have parted ways with Eelco Schattorie after a rather mediocre season this time around. Khel Now had also reported that Kerala had chased former FC Goa head coach Sergio Lobera. However, they backed out of that race some time ago.

The club had finished in seventh spot in the points table and had garnered merely 19 points from 18 encounters in the sixth edition of the ISL. On the other hand, the merger of ATK and Mohun Bagan meant that only one between Antonio Lopez Habas and Kibu Vicuna could have stayed at the helm of the new entity.

RPSG owner Sanjiv Goenka had announced after ATK'S triumph in the isl final last month that Habas would stay in-charge of the head coach duties of the new unified entity. Hence, that opened the door for Vicuna to seek a lucrative offer elsewhere. Vicuna impressed the followers of Indian football with the incredible brand of football that he was successful in implementing at Mohun Bagan.

Hence, the 48-year-old would not have been short of prospective suitors. However, it is an arguably difficult task at hand for him. Kerala have endured an underwhelming period over the course of the last three campaigns.

Moreover, they have shown a relative lack of patience with the men whom they bring onboard as the head coach. This is evident by the fact that Kerala have had eight different managers and have made nine different appointments to the post in the six years of their existence.

Kibu Vicuna would be the ninth head coach to ply his trade at the club. Accordingly, the demeanor and attitude with which he approaches this responsibility would be fascinating to witness. That is because; there is perhaps very little doubt over the prowess and abilities that he possesses to succeed in a demanding job.

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