I-League coaches unqualified?

Wednesday, 24. June 2009 - Arunava Chaudhuri

According to a directive from the Asian Football Confederation most of the I-League coaches do not hold the necessary continental qualification to coach in India's top league.

The AIFF had last year send the AFC a list of the 12 coaches in charge of I-League clubs then. Those on the list include former national coaches and coaches who have been coaching in India and abroad for over a decade. And there will be no exemption for any of these coaches.

The Indians in the list are Bimal Ghosh (Air India), Sukhwinder Singh (JCT), Subrata Bhattacharjee (Chirag United SC), Shabbir Ali (Mohammedan Sporting Club), and Elvis Goes (formerly Vasco SC) plus foreign coaches Zoran Djordjevic (former Churchill Brothers), Karim Bencherifa (Mohun Bagan) and David Booth (former Mumbai FC, now Mahindra United). While now also East Bengal caoch Subhas Bhowmick would fall into this bracket.
Those who qualified were Armando Colaco (Dempo), Derrick Pereira (then Mahindra United, now Pune FC), Stanley Rozario (then East Bengal Club, now Lajong FC) and Sporting Clube de Goa through their assistant coach S. Ekendra Singh.

The reason why the AFC has not accepted these coaches as qualified enough is that they do not fit into the AFC's strict Champions League critiria. And the clubs have been asked to search for qualified coaches with an AFC 'A licence or even better if they hold an AFC Pro Coaching Licence until the start of the next I-League in September.
The AIFF will now have to see if it can implement this directive from their parent Asian body, which is fully supported by world governing body FIFA.

It is interesting to note that many of the coaches have coached for many many years.
Englishman David Booth, a former national coach of Vietnam & Brunei, holds the FA Advanced Licence but that has lapsed, so he would have to take the  UEFA 'A' Licence Course.
The same holds for former Indian national coaches Sukhvinder Singh and Shabbir Ali; as for former Indian internationals Subhas Bhowmick and Subrata Bhattacharjee, who have won National Football League titles; as well as Air India's Bimal Ghosh who has coached his team in all NFL's and I-League's.
Reputation and past records count little for the AFC, who go per academic qualifications.