Igor Stimac, the head coach of the Indian senior men’s crew, on Saturday explained the eyes of his coaching staff is on the total Indian football pyramid and the players for the national group will be picked not only from the Indian Super League but also from the I-League and even regional matches.
Stimac, who a short while ago travelled via by way of of the country observing matches, claimed, “I look at all the game titles during the period but this time, I specifically went to see some of our youngsters enjoying in the I-League.”
Explaining the reasoning guiding his journey across different Indian metropolitan areas, the Croatian mentor, who is all set to helm India’s FIFA Planet Cup 2026 absent leg of the next-round clash versus Afghanistan on March 21 in Saudi Arabia, said, “My pricey Mahesh (Gawali) is liable for next I-League players and I wanted to see some of the boys he talked about to me participate in stay like David (Lalhlansanga) and Bikash (Sagolsem) of Mohammedan (Sporting), Sourav of Gokulam (Kerala FC) and Edmund (Lalrindika) of Inter Kashi. I am satisfied with what I have witnessed and we will keep adhering to their progress.
Stimac also pointed out the have to have for I-League, the next division of Indian football, to adhere to the FIFA windows so that the gamers receiving India contact-ups can be produced by their respective golf equipment for countrywide workforce duty.
“The challenge is that the I-League calendar wasn’t adjusted to FIFA home windows and golf equipment need to have them now, so they will miss out on this possibility of representing the U23s in Malaysia. But I am positive this will improve shortly,” extra Stimac.