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After Stephen Constantine resigned from the Indian national football team coach post India's early exit in the AFC Asian Cup 2019, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) took its time to zero in on a replacement.
The AIFF finally seems to have come to a conclusion after bringing down the candidates to a shortlist of four names in Hakan Ericson, Albert Roca, Igor Stimac and Lee Min-Sung. The AIFF Technical Committee met on Thursday in New Delhi and has forwarded the name of Igor Stimac from Croatia to the Executive Committee for a final decision.
The coach is largely dependent on set-pieces and counter attacks to score goals. He may just be able to modify the current playing style to a more efficient and lethal one with the perfect set of players on the pitch.
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Sportskeeda takes a look at the Top 5 things every Indian Football fan should know about the upcoming Gaffer.
#5 Played for Yugoslavia and Croatia
Post the split of Yugoslavia in 1991, Croatia have played as an independent side. Stimac has had the opportunity to play for both the erstwhile Yugoslavian U-20 side and the Croatian National side.
He made his debut for Yugoslavia in 1987 and was part of the side which went on to win the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile. Stimac played four games and scored twice in the tournament.
He made his International debut for the newly Independent nation, Croatia, in 1990 and went on to play for the Vatreni till 2002. He was notably part of the Croatian squad which finished third in the FIFA World Cup 1998 in France.
Croatia bowed out of the tournament after losing 2-1 in the Semi-Finals to the hosts. They went on to defeat the Netherlands 2-1 in the third-place match.
Stimac has earned a total of 53 International Caps, spanning across 12 years. He has also scored two International Goals. He scored against Estonia in a 7-1 win in the Euro 1996 Qualifiers. He also found the net against Israel in a 2-0 friendly win.
#4 Played for Derby County and West Ham United
Stimac arrived at the Derby County side in England in 1995 for a fee of £1.5 million from Hajduk Split. Stimac scored for the Rams on his debut itself against Tranmere Rovers but Derby went on to lose 5-1.
The season slowly bettered after that defeat and Derby County went unbeaten in 20 consecutive matches and earned promotion to the 1996-97 Premier League.
Such was the impact of Stimac in Derby County that the club named a Stadium Lounge after him, 'The Igor Lounge'. The readers of the Derby Evening Telegraph also voted to include him in the Derby County fan's greatest team.
Stimac stayed with the Rams for the next three years and played a total of 84 games, scoring thrice before moving to West Ham United in 1999.
He played 43 games for the Hammers and scored once in the two seasons and then returned to his boyhood club, Hajduk Split, for his final few playing years.
#3 In and out of Hajduk Split
Croatian Club Hajduk Split has been a part of Igor Stimac's career for a very long time. After beginning his youth career with NK Neretva, Stimac moved to the Youth Setup of Hajduk Split.
He got his first professional contract from the Majstori s mora in 1985 and went on to play 64 games for them and score thrice. His period in Hajduk Split also included a season-long loan deal to Dinamo Vincovci, a club in the Lower Croatian Division.
He left Hajduk Split in 1992 and moved to Spain. He signed up for Segunda Division side Cadiz CF and stayed there till 1994 before returning to Hajduk Split again! After a season with Hajduk in 1994-95, he left his native country and went to England for his spells with Derby County and West Ham United.
In 2001, after spending 6 years in England, Stimac returned to Hajduk Split again for his final days as a professional player. He featured in only 11 games and also scored twice before hanging up his boots.
Hajduk Split was also the club he started his managerial career with. He took over the Club Academy of Hajduk Split in 2001. He also took up the role of the Sports Director of Hajduk and was part of the technical team which allowed Hajduk Split to win the 2003-04 and 2004-05 Championships. He was also the Manager of the team in the 2004-05 League winning season for the last 10 games replacing Blaz Sliskovic.
Stimac left Hajduk Split finally after an illustrating career as a player and as a coach for a shorter period of time. Hajduk must be his favourite club after all these years.
#2 Helmed the Croatian National Team
On 5 July 2012, Igor Stimac was appointed the Head Coach of the Croatian National side. His first game as the Croatian Head Coach was against Switzerland in a friendly, which resulted in a disappointing 4-2 loss for the Croats.
Croatia began their FIFA World Cup 2014 qualification campaign under him in a decent fashion. Mateo Kovacic (now with Chelsea), Ante Rebic (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Alen Halilovic (Standard Liège) were all handed their international debuts against Serbia, Liechtenstein and Portugal by Stimac. Midfield maestros like Real Madrid's Luka Modric and Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic bettered their game under his tenure as well.
Croatia kept winning their qualification games but the fans were far from satisfied with Igor Stimac. Croatia did manage to eke out 16 points from their 6 games but the team was struggling to score. Goals were hard to find by from open play and Stimac's side had to resort to excessive dependency on counter-attacks and set-pieces to score.
Croatia went through a poor patch of results, which included losses to Scotland and Portugal. They also struggled to defeat lowly-ranked Liechtenstein. Croatia drew 1-1 with Serbia, lost 2-1 to Belgium before losing 0-2 to Scotland in the next set of World Qualification games.
The fans were agitated and Stimac had to submit his resignation to the Croatian Football Federation after his loss to Scotland. His resignation was accepted.
Croatia, however, did manage to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil courtesy finishing second in the last second-placed sides in the Europe Qualification Round.
Despite having largely an underwhelming tenure with the Croatian National side, Stimac does get the credit to take Croatia to 4th in the FIFA Men's Rankings from 9th in just a year.
#1 Unsuccessful Managerial stints in the Gulf
After his bittersweet Managerial campaign with Croatia, Stimac went on to helm the Croatian Premier League side Zadar. The club was relegated to the second division after a string of poor results and Stimac left.
Stimac went to Iran for a fresh Managerial start after not so good times in his native country. He took charge of the Persian Gulf Pro League side Sepahan in November 2015 but was forced to resign in April 2016 after Sepahan finished 11th in the National League and suffered early exits in the Domestic Cup and the AFC Champions League.
Stimac moved to Qatar and was handed the Managerial role of Qatar Stars League side Al-Shahaniya. He managed to win just one of the eleven games he was in-charge of Shahaniya and was discharged from his job.
Stimac has had a roller-coaster of a ride as a Head Coach after an illustrious playing career. Will the India kob allow him to redeem himself as a Manager? Only time will answer that question.
Stimac now has to lead the Indian Team to the King's Cup in Thailand where they are poised to face Curacao in the opening game. An interesting start indeed.
