“Have felt connection with India since day one…”: Head coach Manolo Marquez

New Delhi [India], August 11 (ANI): Indian men’s football head coach Manolo Marquez said that it was his “dream” to be the national team coach of a nation with which he has felt a connection since day one.

Marquez held his first media interaction on Sunday in New Delhi since being appointed as the head coach of the senior men’s national team on July 20.

While addressing the media, he was quick to acknowledge the fact that it was a dream come true for him to take charge of the Blue Tigers.

“First of all, I am very grateful and I want to say a big thank you to the AIFF for the confidence it has in me. This is my fifth season in India and if you tell me five years ago that I will spend five years in India, maybe I would think that it was crazy. India is my country after Spain. It is the foreign country I have spent the most time in,” said Marquez as quoted by an All India Football Federation (AIFF) press release.

Marquez, who arrived here late on Saturday night, had a hectic Sunday during his stay in the capital before flying back to Goa. In the morning, the new head coach held an extensive meeting with the Executive Committee and Technical Committee members of the AIFF. Later in the day, he visited the Football House for a meeting with AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey, where the duo engaged in discussions on the senior men’s national team and Indian football in general.

While addressing the media, Marquez said, “For a long time, I was thinking that maybe one day I would like to coach the national team, and I’m here now. I am very happy and it is a dream for me to be the national team coach of India.”

Marquez first landed in India ahead of the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) season to take charge of Hyderabad FC and his family-like relations with Indian players are no secret, which already gives him a head start as he begins his national team journey.

“I have felt the connection in India from day one, since my first training session with Hyderabad FC. My connection with the Indian players is very nice. It is true that we spent two seasons in a bubble inside the hotel and spent a lot of time speaking. You can ask me where they are from, how many family members they have, the traditions of the different kinds of culture in every state of my players. As a foreigner, you have to adapt to new things, even in football. You need to know how the Indian players are. It is not the same to train in Spain, Thailand and India,” said the 55-year-old.

Marquez will juggle between the Blue Tigers and FC Goa jobs for the 2024-25 season. On managing the hectic domestic and international calendar together, Marquez said, “It is true that this situation is not normal, but they are manageable. It is not the first time that the same person will coach a national team and a club together. There are many examples from the past of this happening in not just foreign countries but India as well.”

“The matches are not at the same time. When the national team plays, there is a break in the ISL, so that can be shared. In the first few weeks, there will be a lot of work. But it is my passion and I know it would not be a problem. Obviously, both jobs are about professionalism. And you would not have any doubt about it because we will work very hard for the national team,” he concluded.

Marquez replaced Igor Stimac, a former Croatian footballer, who was sacked as the India men’s football team head coach earlier in June after the team’s poor performance in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification campaign.