Igor Stimac’s work as India’s football coach has done wonders for the national team’s profile, with three tournament victories and a FIFA ranking under 100 among the list of achievements for 2023. But it seems that those results have been getting attention closer to home as well, with Bosnia and Herzegovina looking for a new head coach after sacking Medo Kodro last week.
Stimac had an illustrious career with the Croatian national team, making 53 appearances between 1990 and 2002. As coach, he had 15 games in charge of his home nation, winning eight of them. But after resigning in October 2013, another high-profile national team job didn’t come his way. It was after stints with clubs in Croatia, Iran and Qatar that he took the India job in May 2019.
Stimac is currently in Hangzhou with India’s Asian Games side, training ahead of the round-of-16 clash against Saudi Arabia on Thursday. When informed of articles in the Balkan media that suggested he was the chosen candidate to succeed Kodro, Stimac told RevSportz: “I’m completely focused on the game against Saudi Arabia. I’m not thinking of Bosnia or anything else.”
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Bosnia, who qualified for their only World Cup in Brazil in 2014, have had a disastrous qualifying campaign for Euro 2024, losing four of their six matches, including a shock 2-0 defeat to Luxembourg in June. It’s also a team in transition. Edin Džeko, scorer of one of Manchester City’s most famous goals in the final game of the 2011-12 English Premier League season, is now 37 and playing in Turkey, while the 33-year-old Miralem Pjanić, once of Juventus and Barcelona, plays for Sharjah in the UAE.
AC Milan’s Rade Krunić, now 29, is another stalwart with big-league experience, while Ermedin Demirović plays for Augsburg in Germany. There is, however, a big gulf in class between the established stars and the rest, and the team’s struggles have made it apparent that a new direction is needed.
Stimac has spoken at length about his desire to lead India to the 2026 World Cup – there are key qualifers against Kuwait and Qatar in November – and to upset some apple-carts at the Asian Cup in Qatar in January, where India are drawn in a group with Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria. But with an SOS coming from the Balkans, where he made his name as player and coach, it remains to be seen whether he chooses to stick or twist.
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