Kolkata : The All India Football Federation’s Technical Committee (TC) met virtually on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, to shortlist the applicants for the Senior Men’s Indian Football Team head coach role.
The TC carefully reviewed 170 applications received earlier this month and narrowed it down to three candidates – Khalid Jamil, Stephen Constantine, and Štefan Tarkovič.
The TC has recommended the resumes of the three shortlisted candidates to the Executive Committee, which will take the final call on who the next Blue Tigers head coach will be.
Let’s know the 3 shortlisted coaches for Indian Head coach role :
1) Khalid Jamil –
Khalid Jamil, the current Jamshedpur FC coach came to headlines after guiding the team to semi final spot in ISL 2024-25. A master tactician, Jamil has previously won I-League 2016-17 with Aizawl FC for which he won Syed Abdul Rahim Best coach award in the season and was also awarded AIFF Best coach of the year 2 times, FPAI coach of 2020-21 year. Besides this, he carries immense experience coaching iconic clubs like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, North East FC, Bengaluru FC and currently Jamshedpur FC.
2) Stephen Constantine –
Stephen Constantine served as Indian coach for 2 stints – 2002-2005 & 2015-2019, taking them to new heights. In his first stint, he helped Indian team to win silver medal in 2003 Afro Asian Cup. He came back after 10 years and took India to new heights, as the Blue Tigers saw rise in Fifa rankings from 173 to 97 in 2018. After winning SAFF 2016, and an unbeaten run in qualifier stage earned them Asian Cup 2019 spot. Constantine carries immense experience coaching India, East Bengal, other international sides like Pakistan, Nepal, Rwanda, etc. Can he come back to India for 3rd stint is a matter of time.
3) Stefan Tarkovic –
Stefan Tarkovic is no stranger to high-pressure jobs. The Slovak tactician has managed both the Slovakia and Kyrgyzstan national teams and has quietly built a reputation for delivering results in complex environments. At Euro 2020, he led Slovakia to a famous 2-1 win over Robert Lewandowski’s Poland, with his side showing compact organisation and intelligent game management. His domestic experience includes spells with top-flight Slovak clubs such as MŠK Žilina, Tatran Prešov, and Košice, where he developed a reputation for working effectively with limited resources. After which he joined the Slovakia national team coaching setup as an assistant coach in 2013. More recently, he took charge of Kyrgyzstan and helped them qualify for the AFC Asian Cup 2027, a historic moment for the country. He also led them to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the first time in their history, before stepping down in June 2024 after completing his targets.Tarkovic prefers organised setup—usually a 4-2-3-1—focused on keeping things tight at the back and breaking forward with purpose. After guiding Kyrgyzstan to the Asian Cup and building a reputation for staying calm under pressure, he’s now firmly in the mix for the India job.
Indian football team will resume their 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers in October, which will be the first assignment for the new coach.
