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Khalid Jamil named Indian football team coach: A trailblazer who thrives with underdogs
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has named Khalid Jamil as the new head , as an Indian returns to the top football job in the country after a gap of 13 years. The last Indian to coach the men's national football team was Savio Medeira, who was at the helm from October 2011 to March 2012.
Jamil, who is currently serving as the coach of Indian Super League (ISL) club Jamshedpur FC, replaces Manolo Marquez after the Spaniard . FC Goa coach Marquez, had a horrible time with the Indian football team, winning just one out of eight matches. His last game in charge was a 1-0 defeat to a lower-ranked Hong Kong China at the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers 2027 Final Round campaign.
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India's poor form under Marquez has seen them slide to a poor 133rd ranking in FIFA's global standings, and bringing India back into the top 100 will be among Jamil's toughest challenges.
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He was entrusted with the job by the AIFF Executive Committee after the 48-year-old Indian won the race ahead of former India coach Stephen Constantine and Slovakian Stefan Tarkovic. The fact that Jamil was named AIFF's Men's Coach of the Year Award on two occasions (2023-24 and 2024-25) worked in his favour.
Khalid Jamil's playing and managerial career highlights
Born in Kuwait, Jamil had a decent career with the Indian men's football team, playing 40 matches for the Blue Tigers and winning the SAFF Championship in 1997. At the club level, he played for Air India, Mahindra United and Mumbai FC. With Mahindra, he won the NFL, Federation Cup, Durand Cup and the IFA Shield.
An AFC pro licence coach, Jamil started his career as a tactician with Mumbai FC in 2009 and helped the club survive in the I-League for multiple seasons before joining Aizawl FC in 2016. Under Jamil's coaching, underdogs Aizawl went on to win the I-League title in 2016-17, a first for a club from northeast India.
After working with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, Jamil's next big break came in ISL with NorthEast United, when in 2021-22, he became the first Indian to take charge of a club on a full-time basis in the league. He had also scripted history in the previous season as caretaker coach by guiding NorthEast to the ISL playoffs – a first for an Indian coach.
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Earlier this year, he led Jamshedpur FC to the finals of the Super Cup and the semi-finals of the ISL Cup 2024-25.
The remarkable fact about Jamil's work with NorthEast and Jamshedpur is that he achieved big things with them despite being given limited resources. A quality that has defined his coaching legacy so far.
His first assignment with the Indian men's football team will be the . India's first match is against Tajikistan on 29 August.
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