Former manager of England football team Goran Eriksson and Indian Super League team's former manager of Bangalore FC, Albert Rocca, is in the race to become the coach of the Indian team.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has made a list of 35 names under the discovery of the successor of former coach Stephen Constantine, in which Sweden's Ericsson and Roa's claim of Spain are believed to be strong.
The much-traveled Sven-Goran, a Swede, and Spaniard Roca apart, Tommy Taylor (England), Hakan Ericson (Sweden), Tomislav Sivic (Serbia), Lee Clark (England) and Lucas Alcaraz Gonzalez (Spain) are some of the other candidates shortlisted for the coveted post.
Sven-Goran has been the coach of England for five years before 2006. He had shown interest to become India's coach last month. After a good performance in the recent years of the Indian football team, more than 250 people showed interest in becoming coach of the team, which included a large number of European coaches.
An AIFF official said on condition of privacy, "The the federation has received more than 250 applications, out of which 125 were sorted out. Of this 125, 80 had the necessary qualifications. On the basis of various criteria, about 35-40 names have been selected and sent to the technical committee. In this, seven-eight will be called for the final interview, after which appointment will be made."
As a manager, 71-year-old Ericsson became the first manager to win league-and-cup in three countries, winning 18 trophies with various clubs from Sweden, Portugal, and Italy between 1979 and 2000.
Although they did not get much success in international football. Apart from England, he has also been associated with the national teams of Mexico, the Philippines, and the Ivory Coast. In view of the supervision, Bangalore FC played four finalists in two years, with the finals of the AFC Cup in 2016, the Federation Cup in 2017 and the final of the ISL and Super Cup in 2018.
Having his coach, Bangalore FC won the Federation Cup and Super Cup title but missed the AFC Cup and ISL title.
