Top five achievements of Karim Bencherifa in Indian football

2. Development of Indian players

Trophies, winning streaks, a disciplined style of play are all important parts of Bencherifa’s CV but what really got him the job at Pune FC is his ability to develop Indian players. There have been many great foreign and Indian coaches in the NFL and I-League era but very few can match Bencherifa’s consistency of bringing the best out of young and unknown players. Right from Gouramangi Singh in 2006 to Aibor Khongjee in 2013, Bencherifa has been responsible for the personal growth of many Indian footballers. The 46-year-old has worked in three Indian clubs previously and everywhere he has produced stars and contributed to the Indian national team. He was close to getting the India job in 2011 and the fact that it didn’t work out has possibly affected India more than Bencherifa. Pune FC already have a model of producing stars rather than buying them and thus they couldn’t have picked a better coach than Bencherifa to take them forward.