Manolo Marquez has left his position as head coach of the Indian senior men's national team, after the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) and the Spaniard agreed to terminate his contract by mutual consent.
The announcement came after the AIFF Executive Committee met on Wednesday, where the members collectively decided on the mutual termination of Marquez's contract. Earlier, on Tuesday, the AIFF Technical Committee had recommended to the Executive Committee that a new head coach be appointed for the Senior Men's National Team through an open application process.
Marquez's reign lasted less than 11 months, and he spent 10 of those months in dual charge of the national team and FC Goa. He took charge of eight games for the national team, and oversaw just one win - a 3-0 success in a friendly against Maldives in March. India lost three games in that period - to Syria, Thailand and Hong Kong - while they had four draws against Mauritius, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Bangladesh.
A particular issue was India's lack of firepower in front of goal. They didn't score in five of the eight games under Marquez. In the other three games, they scored just five goals, three of which came against an undercooked Maldives side, which was hamstrung by the lack of any football in the months before that friendly.
The two most recent games, against Thailand and Hong Kong, came after Marquez's longest training camp in charge of the team, and was his first in exclusive charge of the national team. In both games, India had their chances to score, didn't take them, and then committed defensive errors to lose.
The Hong Kong loss was particularly painful, as it has put India in grave danger of missing out on the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in South Africa. India have just one point from two games, and are bottom of the group. Hong Kong and Singapore both have four points from two games. India will next be in competitive action in October, when they have a double-header against Singapore, playing home and away against them in the space of five days.