Xavi Hernandez applies for India Coach role, AIFF bows out over budget

Spanish football great Xavi Hernandez, one of the finest midfielders of his generation and a World Cup winner with Spain, applied to be the head coach of the Indian men’s national football team.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) confirmed receiving an application directly from Xavi himself via email, leaving officials surprised but ultimately unable to move forward due to budgetary limitations.

“Yes, he (Xavi) applied for the job... He mailed his application to the people in the technical committee, and it looked like he was genuinely interested,” a senior AIFF official told PTI on Friday. “But the cost of bringing someone like Xavi on board is simply out of reach for the federation.”

Xavi’s decorated résumé includes the 2010 FIFA World Cup and back-to-back UEFA Euro wins in 2008 and 2012 with Spain, alongside a glittering club career with FC Barcelona. At Barca, he won three UEFA Champions League titles, eight La Liga championships, and was an integral part of the tiki-taka era alongside Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta.

The 45-year-old most recently managed FC Barcelona from 2021 to 2024, guiding them to the 2022–23 La Liga title and the 2023 Supercopa de España. Prior to that, he coached Qatari club Al Sadd from 2019–21 following his playing stint there.

Despite the federation’s admiration for Xavi’s interest, the AIFF instead shortlisted three other candidates this week: Stephen Constantine, who previously coached India; Slovakian coach Stefan Tarkovic; and Indian tactician Khalid Jamil. Of these, Jamil appears to be the frontrunner to succeed Manolo Marquez, who stepped down earlier this month following a string of disappointing results that saw India’s FIFA ranking drop to 133, their lowest in nearly a decade.

The AIFF had opened applications for the position on July 4 and received over 170 entries, including other high-profile names such as former Liverpool stars Robbie Fowler and Harry Kewell.