Indian football team head coach should be an Indian in future: Manolo Marquez
New Delhi: Becoming the Indian football team head coach is a “dream come true” for Manolo Marquez but the Spaniard on Sunday candidly said that it will be better if an Indian manages the national side in future.
The 55-year-old Marquez was last month appointed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) as national men’s team head coach in place of Igor Stimac for a tenure of three years.
During the 2024-25 season, Marquez will also continue his role as FC Goa head coach, managing both club and national team responsibilities concurrently. He will then take on the Indian team’s coaching role full-time from 2025 onwards.
“Apart from Spain, India is the country where I have spent the most number of years. Long time ago, I thought I would like to be a national team head coach and I am here. It is a dream come true,” Marquez said while addressing his first press conference after his appointment as India head coach.
“In the future, the national team coach has to be an Indian because he (Indian) will know better how the country works, knows the people of different parts of India. So, this has to be the target of Indian football in the coming years,” he added.
Marquez has been in India since 2020, having had three successful seasons with the Hyderabad FC and another season (2023-24) with FC Goa (3rd place finish in the ISL).
His first international assignment will be the three-team Intercontinental Cup which is being hosted by India in Hyderabad from September 3-9. Syria and Mauritius are the other two teams in the tournament. After that he will be in charge of the team at the VFF Tri-Nation Series to be played in Vietnam from October 9-15. Lebanon is the other country in that tournament besides hosts Vietnam and India. Both the tournaments are during the FIFA international match window. The national camp for the Intercontinental Cup is set to start from August 30 or 31.
On the possible conflict of interest as he will be India head coach and FC Goa manager simultaneously till the end of 2024-25 season, Marquez said, “It’s not a normal situation, no doubt, but it’s not the first time and won’t be the last time regarding this situation.
“I checked, in international level, there were big names earlier in same situation and in India, I am told there were many (such cases)
earlier.”
