Indian Football Team Coach Stephen Constantine May Get One-Year Extension

Indian football team head coach Stephen Constantine may get a one-year extension in his contract though the All India Football Federation is yet to take a final call on the matter.

AIFF's technical committee on Wednesday entrusted its general secretary Kushal Das with the task of communicating with Constantine regarding his future in India. The final decision on the matter will be taken by AIFF president Praful Patel.

"A final decision is yet to arrive. He (Constantine) may get a one-year extension if he is to continue. But this is not the final decision," a source involved in the matter told PTI.

The AIFF committee, comprising chairman Bhaichung Bhutia, Western Indian Football Association's (WIFA) CEO Henry Menezes, Kerala Football Association secretary Anil Kumar and AIFF academy instructor Scott O'Donnell, met in Mumbai on Wednesday to deliberate on the future of Englishman Constantine, who was appointed to the post in January 2015.

However, there was no discussion on any replacement candidate for Constantine, whose second term as Indian coach ends in February.

A section of the AIFF, however, is keen on replacing him at the earliest and give his successor enough time to get acclimatized ahead of India's qualifying round play-off matches for the 2019 Asia Cup in February.

In his second stint as coach, Constantine failed to inspire his team in the World Cup/Asian Cup qualifiers with the side finishing last in Group D, which also had Asian heavyweights Iran and Oman, and lowly ranked Guam, to whom they lost.

He guided India to the SAFF Championship glory - the team beat Afghanistan 1-0 in the final - in January 2016. The AIFF, though, was far from impressed with the team's overall results under Constantine.

The coach's performance was discussed in the meeting.