The All India Football Federation's Technical Committee recommended the names of Khalid Jamil, Stephen Constantine, and Stefan Tarkovic as options to replace Manolo Marquez as the head coach of the Indian senior men's national football team.
The final decision will be made by the AIFF Executive Committee in the coming days, with the new coach facing a massive task right away of getting India through to the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. They currently have just one point in two games, and have two matches remaining against Singapore, and one each against Bangladesh and Hong Kong.
These recommendations show why the AIFF Technical Committee should get their flowers. It is clear that the Technical Committee sees India as underdogs and they have recommended managers who have spent their whole careers setting up their teams in such a way.
It will be incumbent in the AIFF to not overlook these recommendations when the Executive Committee meets to pick Marquez's replacement.
Who are the three coaches, what are their strengths, what can Indian fans expect? Here's a closer look:
Khalid Jamil
Experience
Jamil is, without question, the best Indian manager there is at the moment. He has made a name for himself as someone who can help teams punch above their weight. He's been around the I-League and the ISL for more than a decade now. Perhaps the biggest achievement for him was that 2016-17 I-League title with Aizawl FC, when they upstaged giants like Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, and Bengaluru FC.
Jamil has also taken two relatively understated sides to the ISL semifinals, NorthEast United in 2020-21, and Jamshedpur FC in 2024-25.
Style of play
Perhaps the best word to describe the way Jamil's teams play football is, pragmatic. Jamil has shown through his whole career that his teams won't be aesthetically pleasing to look at.
You won't see the ball being played out of the back that much. You won't see too many intricate passing patterns in midfield. He loves well-organised defences, hard-working midfielders, largely defensive full-backs, wingers who hold the width, and generally, a target-man up front as well.
What fans can expect from him
A hard-working, defensively solid unit. India's defensive frailty has been a talking point in recent times. That is something Jamil will look to sort out right at the beginning. Captain Sandesh Jhingan's body-on-the-line style of defending is what Jamil will look for from the entire team. India's quick wingers, like Lallianzuala Chhangte will be of immense use, as Jamil's counter-attacking style will need players to progress the ball up the field as fast as they can.
Stephen Constantine
Experience
Fans of Indian football don't really need any introduction to Constantine. He's had two spells in charge of the national team, the latest of which ended with the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. In that tournament, he oversaw India's most impressive win of the last decade - a 4-1 success against Thailand. Since then, he's had spells in charge of Pafos in the Cypriot first division, East Bengal, and the Pakistan national team.
He finished ninth with East Bengal in the ISL, and didn't really have much to write home about in his stint with Pakistan either.
Style of play
Much like Jamil, Constantine's methods are rather old school too. Much like Jamil, Constantine is very much a proponent of the 4-4-2 or the 4-3-3 system. He values solidity and organisation more than anything else in the team - so much so that he was willing to compromise on ball-playing ability in midfield to the extent of playing Pronay Halder and Sehnaj Singh together in the middle of the park.
What fans can expect from him
Pretty much the same things that made him a villain to a large section of Indian fans back in 2019. The football won't be pleasing to the eye. But what India and its fans wouldn't give for the results of the 2015 to 2019 Constantine era? There were reports back then of a rift between him and Sunil Chhetri, so if the Englishman gets the job, would that mean the end of Chhetri's international career (again)? In his previous stint with India, the fanbase was also angry at some of his squad selections. Constantine didn't particularly shift away from the players that he trusted, and that meant ignoring in-form players who were doing well in the ISL.
Stefan Tarkovic
Experience
Of the three shortlisted names, Tarkovic is the one with the most high-profile job experience. The man from Slovakia was in charge of his nation at Euro 2020, where they produced an impressive result in beating Robert Lewandowski's Poland 2-1. However, Slovakia lost to Sweden and Spain after that and didn't make it through to the knockouts. Tarkovic held that job until 2022, and a year later, took charge of the Kyrgyzstan national team. His target was to lead the team through to the third round of World Cup qualifying, which would give them qualification for the AFC Asian Cup 2027. They did just that, with the most impressive coming in the form of a 1-0 win against Oman.
Style of play
Solid, focused on defensive organisation, strong counterattacks. Sensing a pattern here? Tarkovic hasn't really taken charge of big teams, so his way of playing has been tailored to how underdogs should be set up. He has largely preferred a 4-2-3-1 system throughout his career, and if given the India job, will have no reason to change that.
What fans can expect from him
Much the same as the two above, but with the added perspective that he has succeeded, in relative terms, at the highest level. Constantine hasn't quite managed to, and Jamil hasn't even been at that stage. A win at the Euros with Slovakia and leading an emerging Asian team like Kyrgyzstan into the third round of World Cup qualifying, are both possible only with a manager who knows exactly how to get results by setting his team up like underdogs. That is exactly what Tarkovic is likely to do, if given the India job.