The All India Football Federation (AIFF) reportedly received an application from Spanish football legend Xavi Hernandez for the role of the Indian national team’s head coach. As per a report by Times of India’s Marcus Mergulhao, the former FC Barcelona midfielder and manager had apparently sent his application to the AIFF from his personal email ID.
Xavi’s application was incomplete, with details like contact number missing. Despite this, as reported by TOI, the Spaniard’s name was highlighted in green in the internal shortlist circulated by AIFF’s national teams director, Subrata Paul.
“It’s correct that Xavi’s name was there,” Paul was quoted by TOI on Thursday, 24 July. “The application was emailed to the AIFF.”
However, the report also mentioned that the board did not seriously consider including Xavi in the final shortlist of managers, with financial considerations in mind. “Even if Xavi was genuinely interested in Indian football and could be convinced to take up the job, we would need a lot of money,” a committee member told TOI.
This is not the first time Xavi has expressed interest in Indian football. In an earlier interview, he revealed that he “follows the Indian League because there are a lot of Spanish coaches there.”
Xavi has been without a coaching role since he parted ways with Barcelona in May 2024. He previously managed Qatari side Al Sadd.
The list of potential managers for the vacant position of India’s manager that have been shortlisted by AIFF includes Stephen Constantine, Khalid Jamil, and Stefan Tarkovic.
