To select the successor of Stephen Constantine as head coach of senior and under-23 national teams, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has set a May 7 deadline.
Stating this to this newspaper, AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said from New Delhi that would give the new coach at least three weeks to settle down and hold a preparatory camp for the senior team ahead of the King’s Cup, starting in Thailand on June 5.
The AIFF will call a meeting of its technical committee on April 15 and hand over 38 applications it has pruned from a total of around 250, said Das. The committee will be given time to go through the applications. Based on its recommendations and on factors such as how expensive an applicant would be, the AIFF will prepare a final shortlist of five or six, all of whom would be interviewed by the technical committee members, said Das.
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Former India striker Shyam Thapa is the chairman of the AIFF technical committee and Henry Menezes, who is a retired international goalkeeper, his deputy.
While a host of top names, it has been reported, have applied, an AIFF official said it is unlikely to pay above $26,000 per month (approximately Rs 17.99 lakh). The official requested anonymity given the sensitive nature of the issue. The AIFF is also trying to get the union sports ministry to pick up part of the tab, the official said.
{{/usCountry}}While a host of top names, it has been reported, have applied, an AIFF official said it is unlikely to pay above $26,000 per month (approximately Rs 17.99 lakh). The official requested anonymity given the sensitive nature of the issue. The AIFF is also trying to get the union sports ministry to pick up part of the tab, the official said.
{{/usCountry}}Constantine’s salary of $22,000 (Rs 15.21 lakh) was paid by AIFF as procedures that needed to be followed to get the ministry to subsidise it were not followed, said the official.