New Delhi, June 14(HS): All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Kalyan Chaubey stated on Friday that a decision regarding the future of the men's national football team coach Manolo Márquez will be made during the executive committee meeting scheduled for June 29. He said, “Manolo Márquez is an experienced coach who understands Indian football, but I have been receiving several calls in recent days asking whether he will continue as coach or not. The final decision will be made in the executive meeting. However, it is unrealistic to think that we can win without scoring.”

Márquez took over as the coach of the Indian team in place of Igor Štimac, but he has failed to win a single competitive match so far. India's loss to Hong Kong (0-1) and a goalless draw with Bangladesh in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers have sparked criticism, and calls for the coach's removal have increased. Efforts to include OCI players in the Indian team Kalyan Chaube mentioned that the AIFF is in contact with several government departments to include players of Indian origin, that is, OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) players, in the team. He stated, “We have initiated discussions with various government ministries on this matter, and the initial response has been encouraging. We are in touch with 33 such players, some of whom have OCI cards, while others are in the application process. We are also assisting them in this process.”

Concern over the lack of Indian strikers in ISL Questions have also been raised regarding the low participation of Indian strikers in the Indian Super League (ISL). Kalyan Chaube said, “AIFF cannot make a decision alone on reducing the number of foreign players. All stakeholders must come together to make a decision.”

According to a presentation made by AIFF, the performance of India’s three recent coaches — Stephen Constantine, Igor Stimac, and Manolo Marquez — was compared: Constantine: Goals per match - 1.64 | Win percentage - 57% Stimac: Goals per match - 1.01 | Win percentage - 35% Marquez: Goals per match - 0.75 | Win percentage - 13% It was also mentioned that Indian strikers do not regularly get the role of center forward in their clubs, making it difficult for them to play in new positions for the national team.

Chaubey said, “We have not prepared good strikers in the last 10 years. Sunil Chhetri's dedication and fitness are commendable, but new forwards are needed now.”

India’s eyes are on hosting the 2031 AFC Asian Cup Kalyan Choube stated that India has submitted a 'letter of intent' to host the 2031 AFC Asian Cup. Additionally, India is also planning to host AFC beach soccer and futsal tournaments in the future. He said, “We are working on a bottom-up strategy. With hosting the 2031 Asian Cup, we can also think about hosting a FIFA tournament in the future.” He also acknowledged that the AIFF is spending a lot of time and money on legal matters and court proceedings, which should be invested in the development of football.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar