The All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) has sacked Igor Stimac as the head coach of the Indian men’s football team after a disappointing run at the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers on Monday. Considering Team India's performance in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification campaign, the members of the AIFF unanimously agreed that the Indian senior team will have a new head coach.

Stimac was non-committal about his future with the Blue Tigers after India were knocked out of the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualification race. India suffered a controversial 1-2 loss to Asian champions Qatar in Doha. Before scoring the winner against India, Qatar netted the equaliser from a ball that had clearly gone out of play. The heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Qatar put India out of contention for the third round of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers.

'AIFF thanks Stimac for his service to national team'

“The meeting instructed the Acting Secretary General Mr. Satyanarayan to notify the current Head Coach Mr. Igor Stimac of its decision to terminate his engagement. Pursuant to the above, a notice of termination has been issued to Mr. Stimac by the AIFF Secretariat, and he stands relieved of his obligations with immediate effect. The AIFF thanks Mr. Stimac for his service to the National Team and wishes him well in his future endeavours,” the AIFF said in a statement.

Stimac fails in his mission

The 56-year-old Stimac had taken charge of the Blue Tigers in 2019. Stimac was part of the Croatia team that made the semifinals of the 1998 World Cup. Earlier, Stimac had vowed to part ways with Team India if he failed in his "mission" to take India into the third round. Last October, Stimac and his support staff were handed extensions. If India had entered the third round of World Cup Qualifiers, Stimac's contract would have been automatically renewed until 2028. Under Stimac's watch, India were also stunned by lower-ranked Afghanistan in its underwhelming campaign. With Stimac as head coach, the Blue Tigers won four major trophies, including two SAFF Championships, one Intercontinental Cup and the Tri-Nations Series.

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