FACT CHECK: Did Xavi apply for Indian football team coach’s job?

 “It was too good to be true.”

 

A comment on X to a report about Spain's World Cup-winning midfield superstar Xavi Hernandez applying for the job of Indian football men’s team coach, by a user summed up the feelings of the majority of Indian football fans.

 

A Times of India report yesterday quoted Subrata Paul, AIFF’s national team director, as saying that Xavi’s name was there in the list of candidates who applied for the job. Paul also confirmed that Xavi’s application was emailed to the federation.

 

Besides the World Cup triumph with Spain in 2010, the 45-year-old won the Euro Cup in 2008 and 2012. A product of the famed La Masia, Xavi played for Barcelona for 24 years and left the club as a player in 2015. He won five La Liga titles, three Copa del Rey trophies, and three UEFA Champions League trophies with FC Barcelona, including two continental trebles in 2008-09 and 2014-15.

 

Xavi coached Barcelona from 2021 to 2024, and led them to the 2023 Supercopa de Espana and the 2022-23 La Liga tile. He also played for Qatari club Al Sadd before being appointed the team's manager from 2019 to 2021, and won four trophies.

 

The TOI report, however, added that the AIFF did not consider Xavi for the final shortlist because of the high cost involved. This led to an outrage on social media, with fans criticising the AIFF for letting go a coach of the stature as Xavi.

 

Noted football journalist Fabrizio Romano, however, confirmed on X that there has been “zero talks” between Xavi and AIFF. Another reputed Spanish journalist Ferran Correas went on to add that the AIFF “intentionally used Xavi’s name to boost the profile of the role”. Barca Times quoted him as saying that “people close to Xavi insist that he never applied for the head coach position of the Indian national team”.

 

AIFF is yet to make an official statement on the matter.

 

Meanwhile, former Indian football coach Stephen Constantine, Stefan Tarkovic of Slovakia and Khalid Jamil are the three candidates shortlisted by the technical committee for the role. Jamil, who has coached I-League and ISL sides, appears to be the frontrunner to replace Manolo Marquez, who quit earlier this month. A string of poor performances by the national team saw its FIFA ranking falling to 133 – the lowest in nine years.

 

The AIFF invited applications for the top job on July 4 with July 13 as the deadline. It got 170 applications, which included big names like former Liverpool stars Robbie Fowler and Harry Kewell, according to PTI.

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