Under-Fire Igor Stimac To Remain In Charge Of India In 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Against Kuwait, Qatar

The under-fire Igor Stimac will remain in charge of India's FIFA World CupWorld CupWorld Cup second round qualifying matches against Kuwait and Qatar as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has asked the head coach of the senior men's team to focus on the upcoming two games. This comes a week after the technical committee headed by Indian football great I M Vijayan recommended the sacking of the Croatian World Cupper after the shocking defeat to Afghanistan in the home leg match in Guwahati on March 26.

A committee, constituted by AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey and headed by vice-president N A Haris, following the loss to Afghanistan, held discussions with Stimac during a virtual meeting on Tuesday.

Vijayan, who is a member of the AIFF executive committee and the chairman of the technical committee, said: "I am happy that we had a good discussion with the head coach. In the World Cup qualifiers, we have two matches in hand with a chance to make Round 3 for the first time in history.