Noting the disappointing outcome of the senior men’s national team's FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification campaign, the senior members of the AIFF unanimously agreed that a new head coach would be best placed to take the team forward. The senior officials of the All India Football Federation held a virtual meeting on Sunday at which they arrived at this decision.
The meeting was chaired by AIFF Vice President NA Haris and the others in attendance were Menla Ethenpa (Member, Executive Committee and Chairperson, Finance Committee), Anilkumar Prabhakaran (Member, Executive Committee and Chairperson, Competitions Committee), IM Vijayan, (Chairman of the AIFF Technical Committee), Climax Lawrence (Member of the AIFF Technical Committee) and M. Satyanarayan (Acting Secretary General).
The meeting instructed the Acting Secretary General Satyanarayan to notify the current head coach Igor Stimac of its decision to terminate his engagement.
"Pursuant to the above, a notice of termination has been issued to Stimac by the AIFF Secretariat, and he stands relieved of his obligations with immediate effect. The AIFF thanks Stimac for his service to the national team and wishes him well in his future endeavours," a statement read.
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