Former footballer Khalid Jamil was named as the new coach of the Indian football team, it was announced on Friday.
Jamil, who is currently the coach of Indian Super League side Jamshedpur FC, will become the first Indian to coach the national team after 13 years. Savio Madeira was the last home-grown coach to be given the top job in October 2011. His stint lasted till March 2012.
Confirming his appointment, the All India Football Federation said: “The AIFF Executive Committee, in the presence of the Technical Committee, has approved the appointment of Khalid Jamil as the new head coach of the Senior India Men’s National Team.”
Jamil, who will replace Manolo Marquez, was selected from a shortlist of three coaches, which included former India coach Stephen Constantine and Slovakian manager Stefan Tarkovic.
Born in Kuwait, the 49-year-old enjoys the rare honour of winning India’s top division as a player and a coach — he won it with Mahindra United in 2005 and then guided Aizawl FC to the I-League title in 2017 in one of biggest underdog stories inIndian football.
Jamil, who holds the AFC Pro License, has the experience of coaching across all divisions — I-League, I-League 2, and the Indian Super League (ISL).
Marquez’s short, turbulent and unsuccessful stint as the Indian football team’s coach ended earlier this month after the Spaniard and the AIFF ‘mutually agreed to part ways’.
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Marquez’s tenure lasted just under a year, making it the shortest among Indian head coaches in the last decade — Constantine was India’s head coach from 2015–2019 before Igor Stimac (2019-2024).
While a poor performance in the 2023 Asian Cup was among the key reasons for Stimac’s sacking, India are now in danger of failing to qualify altogether for the 2027 edition of the tournament. India managed just one win in the eight matches they played under Marquez.