Stephen Constantine, the English football coach for India, has made a decision to return as a coach for Indian Super League (ISL). After the 2019 Asia Cup, he resigned as a manager. Now, after his six months long furlough, he has decided to return to coach ISL.
ISL takes place around the month of October every year, but this year due to this pandemic, it is scheduled to commence by 23 November 2020.
The tournament will take place in a closed environment due to this situation.
What is ISL?
ISL is heaven for Indian football fans. For the readers Who know about IPL but not about ISL, ISL stands for Indian Super League. Here footballers from various parts of India come and play for specific teams and win the title of champions.
Mumbai city, Jamshedpur, Hyderabad, Goa, ATK Mohun Bagan, Odisha, North East United, Chennaiyin, Bengaluru, and Kerala Blasters are the ten teams that play for the trophy.
As I gave you the quick overview for ISL, I hope you’ll understand this article further better.
Constantine’s coaching history
Constantine has coached the Indian team for four years since 2015 until he decided to have a break.
When he was assigned as the coach for India in 2015, India was on number 176, according to FIFA rankings. In his four years of coaching India, he has contributed in giving 49 players a debut in international games.
With Stephen alongside, India also qualified for the Asia Cup. He has won three international games. In 2016 and 2018 sought victory in the SAFF with the under 23 teams and maintained a winning streak by winning 14 games in a row.
India also won the Intercontinental Cup in 2018 by beating Kenya under his guidance. After India’s qualifications for the Asia Cup and the other wins which he helped India achieve, Constantine was declared the “Sports Illustrated” coach of the year in our country.
Stephen Constantine
After six months of furlough, he stated that he was away from his home for six years, so he had to be with his family, but he missed football a lot for that time. He didn’t want to go straight away for a coach’s position after holding back for six months. He missed helping players, so now he is back.
But the tournament will start from November of this year, and most of the teams have appointed their coaches. There are only two teams left, which are Chennaiyin FC and NorthEast United FC; these teams still need a coach; maybe Stephen Constantine will be one of them in the coming time.
He kept himself updated with changes going on in Indian football. For the 3+1 rule, Stephen asked for it. He maintained consistency in Indian football. His contribution as an English man to India is a vital part of Indian football.
Closure | Stephen Constantine
Hope Stephen will get what he deserves, and so will India as he leads in the Asia cup.