Sunil Chhetri's tiff with Indian national team coach Stephen Constantine costs him captaincy

In the guise of rotating the captain's armband, it appears that striker Sunil Chhetri, India's all-time top-scorer and the skipper of the national team over the last five years, has lost the captain's armband permanently over an alleged feud with coach Stephen Constantine.

While Constantine, since taking over the national team in 2015, has handed over the captaincy of the team to goalkeeper Subrata Paul, first-choice keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Sunil Chhetri on a rotational basis, he named defender Sandesh Jhingan as the skipper for the first time for Saturday's friendly against China.

According to a report in the Times of India, this was done to send a message across to Chhetri that Constantine is the real boss of the team.

During the announcement on the eve of the match, Constantine remarked: "I think the captain has to reflect the attitude of the coach. Sandesh first played for me four years ago. He is a fighter and a leader. He gives everything on the pitch, which most of the players do."

In October last year, five senior players had complained to the All India Football Federation, the sport's governing body in the country, that Constantine is not tactically well-equipped to guide the national team at the 2019 Asian Cup in UAE. They sought the removal of the coach but the AIFF shot down the suggestions and made it clear that Constantine will see out his contract.

The AIFF even extended the Englishman's contract until the end of the 2019 Asian Cup as they felt that he has done quite a decent job in his second stint with the national team. Under him, India moved up from the 173rd position to the 97th position in the rankings. They also enjoyed a 13-game unbeaten run as well as qualified for the Asian Cup after a gap of eight years.

The TOI report revealed that Chhetri is one of the players unhappy with Constantine.

However, back in November last year, just before India had to face Myanmar in an Asian Cup qualifier, Chhetri had refuted the allegations that senior players sought the removal of the coach.

“If I knew something about it, I would have commented. When this thing came, a lot of people called me. I didn't take those calls because I didn't want to speak about it, because it's not true,” Chhetri had said.

The report added that Chhetri prefers former Bengaluru FC coach Albert Roca at the helm. It's no surprise that Chhetri prefers Roca as the Bengaluru FC striker has a good working relationship with the Spaniard, who chose not to extend his contract with the club this year for personal reasons.

With Chhetri making his feelings about the coach clear to the AIFF, it appears that he has lost his captaincy altogether.

"I think he (Sandesh Jhingan) is going to be one of the leaders for India going forward. Keeping the magnitude of the game in mind, I believe he deserves to lead the team,” Constantine added while naming the Kerala Blasters star as the skipper.

India managed a goalless draw with China in the friendly but this off-field controversy could hurt their preparations for the 2019 Asian Cup.