The All India Football Federation's executive committee has verified that Manolo Marquez, the current head of FC Goa in the Indian Super League, will be the new head coach of the Indian men's football team. This is in place of Igor Stimac, who was discharged recently, the decision reached during the executive committee meeting on Saturday.
The 55-year-old Marquez has a UEFA Pro License and now assumes twin responsibilities. He will take charge of FC Goa till the 2024-25 season while being in charge of the national team concurrently before finally becoming a full-time national team coach. That tenure, however, was not spelt out by the AIFF.
His first major assignment as head coach of India will be the Tri-Nation tournament in Vietnam this October, where Lebanon will be the third participating team. Marquez is not new to coaching in India, having started in 2020 with Hyderabad FC before moving to FC Goa in 2023. He led Hyderabad FC to the ISL Cup title in 2021-22 and finished third with FC Goa in the 2023-24 ISL season.
Born in Barcelona, Marquez had a distinguished coaching career in Spain, serving the La Liga club Las Palmas and several other lower division teams. He thanked the opportunity for coaching the Indian national team—a country which he fondly called his second home.
"We are delighted to welcome Mr. Marquez to this important role and are also thankful to FC Goa for their generosity of releasing him for national duty. We look forward to working with Mr. Marquez in the years ahead," Chaubey said.
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