No head coach for India women’s football team

For over three months, the senior India women’s football team has been without a head coach. This in the year of the Asian Games in September and the second round of the Olympic qualifiers in October-November. And it comes six months after All India Football Federation (AIFF) launched its Vision 2047 programme which talks of increased focus on the women’s game and a four-tier league pyramid by 2026.

Thomas Dennerby was the last head coach. His contract ended on March 31 but the Swede stayed in charge of the first round of Olympic qualifiers, against Kyrgyzstan on April 4 and 7. India won the first game 5-0 and the second 4-0 in Bishkek to qualify for the second round.

An AIFF executive committee member told HT on Wednesday that India players wanted Dennerby to continue till at least the end of the second round of the Olympics qualifiers. "The players said there is no time to adjust to a new coach now," the official said. The official requested anonymity given the sensitive nature of the issue.

India, 60th in FIFA rankings, have been grouped with Japan, Vietnam and Uzbekistan in the second round. India are scheduled to play Japan on October 26, Vietnam on October 29 and Uzbekistan on November 1. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the third round from where the first two teams will make the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Japan and Vietnam have qualified for the Women’s World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand, from July 20-August 20.

Headed by IM Vijayan, the AIFF’s technical committee met on May 27 but if a decision was taken on the future of the senior women’s team head coach, it was not made public. An AIFF executive committee member told HT on Thursday that a proposal to appoint Anthony Andrews, who won the 2022-23 Indian Women’s League with Gokulam Kerala, was rejected. The technical committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday.

Possibly because they don’t have a head coach, India did not utilise the FIFA window between July 10-18. Bangladesh and Nepal are playing two friendlies against each other, on Thursday and on July 16. Pakistan are scheduled to play Singapore on July 15. No plan for preparation for Asian Games or the qualifiers have been made public yet.

Named senior team head coach in August 2021, Dennerby, who coached Sweden to the third-place in the 2011 World Cup and Nigeria to the round of 16 in the 2019 edition, trained the players for five months leading to the 2022 Asian Cup where India pulled after the first match out due to an outbreak of Covid-19. After the Asian Cup, Dennerby readied the under-17 team for the 2022 World Cup – he was appointed for the 2020 under-17 World Cup which was cancelled because of Covid-19 – but returned to the senior team for the first round of the Olympic qualifiers.

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