Igor Stimac’s Priorities For Short Term & Long-term Goals – To Qualify For World Cup.

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In the recently conducted webinar, Igor held an online session for coaches from all over India on popular platform – zoom, after briefing about the 4-2-3-1 tactical analysis and showing his concerns over where India lack in Football scenario, he mentioned the two forms of priorities to overcome the shortcomings, which are discussed in this article.


1. Short-Term Goals.


The short-term goals were the one which included the most interesting points among the two. Igor had mentioned about including PIO players in the national team as a prime importance. He spoke on how himself & the government are working together to make it a reality. As we already know many Indian-origin players playing across the world in better leagues, Igor conveyed about enabling the duel citizenship not only for the footballers but for all sports persons which would give India a quick access to quality players who are already grooming under overseas’ facilities.


Reduction in the number of foreign players in the ISL was the second point which Igor mentioned. This would make room for the participation of Indian players at important positions on the pitch, which gives Igor more options to choose in the national team’s playing 11. Besides it, Igor mentioned about extending the league season to 8 months initially and 10 months later on as his third point. This would help the players get regular game time during most part of a year and it always keeps them in touch with the game, which is in contrary to the current situation where players are away from action for multiple months.

Igor Stimac’s Priorities For Short Term & Long-term Goals - To Qualify For World Cup. islAIFFbabyLeague
AIFF’S Baby League on the left with ISL’s recently introduced Baby League logo on the right.


Organising cup competitions such as Durand Cup and Super Cup was the 4th point, which adds more games in a calendar for all the clubs. Lastly, he raised his concern on adjusting the clash between AIFF’s and ISL’s respective baby leagues, which run separately.


2. Long-Term Goals. 

When it comes to the long-term goals which also had the ultimate goal of qualifying for world cup, improving academy and state competitions was the first point and the second one was to improve education for the coaches and referees. He tagged these two points as the most important thing for the future of Indian football. He emphasised on these two points to all the coaches across India, on how will this help them to gain an opportunity to coach for ISL/I-League clubs or even the national team.


Improvising Scouting process was the third point. “I haven’t been in India for a long time, but I have witnessed that there are plenty of talented young boys in Indian Football. We (coaches) need to make sure that these boys come out of the shadow and show up.” he explained.


The next point covered the development of infrastructure. Igor said “We know that clubs are using the government stadiums, but the clubs should use their own grounds which provide more facilities.” he also added that training facilities are the most important part in developing the football players, to give future coaches the better players and obviously the better facilities to work with.


The last point to ponder is a big one – qualifying for the world cup. Igor explained – by fulfilling all the above priorities would make India achieve that dream. He concluded with “Going to the world cup and participating is not happening if you lack in it (priorities), there is no such luck to take you to the world cup. It’s all about structured work and learning every day. As a more experienced coach, I can tell you that learning process should never stop.”

Albeit these points might be a mantra for success of Football in India, implementation of them is the key. Let us know your opinions on these priorities in the comments.