The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday said Khalid Jamil has taken charge of the sen-ior men’s team on a full-time basis for a period of two years with an option to extend his contract by one year depending on results. The AIFF said Jamil has signed the contract after parting ways with ISL team Jamshedpur FC.

Jamil will begin his first training camp on August 15 at the Dravid-Padukone Centre for Sports Excel-lence in Bengaluru. His first assignment with the Blue Tigers will be the CAFA Nations Cup, where India will face hosts Tajikistan (August 29), Iran (September 1) and Afghanistan (September 4) in Group B.

In the October FIFA Window, India will play two crucial AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifying matches against Singapore (October 9 and 14). Jamil said, “I am both deeply proud and immensely privileged to have been entrusted with the re-sponsibility of leading our national team.

“Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to train Indian players, and I’ve grown to understand their strengths and weaknesses intimately. These insights will be fundamental to everything we do as we prepare for the CAFA Nations Cup and the upcoming crucial Asian Cup Qualifiers against Singapore.” He has replaced Manolo Marquez, whose contract was terminated by the AIFF last month. Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia feels “sorry” for Khalid Jamil, who has taken charge of the national football team at a time when the sport is going through a difficult phase in the country and said the AIFF preferred him because he is unlikely to make too many demands.

“We have got two world class coaches leaving, we have got Igor Štimac who coached the Croatian team, and then Manolo Marquez who is one of the great coaches with great history,” Bhutia told PTI Videos after the Fidel Castro Centenary Football Cup’s exhibition match.

“If these two coaches couldn’t work with the federation, then you bring people who will listen and will do what Federations says and will not come up with his own ideas and demands from the feder-ation. “I think Jamil being a domestic coach fits into that as he is fairly new to the team. (Feel) sorry for him as well as he is taking charge of the team when it’s in a very difficult situation,” he added.

Jamil was chosen ahead of Stephen Constantine and Stefan Tarkovic.

Taking aim at AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, Bhutia said: “For Kalyan, he is the right guys because Indian coaches do not demand much. At the same time he is saying that there are financial problems and today the federation has gone into such a bad situation that we don’t have money to pay to the coaches as well.

“There are coaches who are national team coaches, and they are being paid by the other people, so, I don’t know where all the money’s gone and there are scam after scam.”

Chaubey had recently admitted that club football is “going through crisis” due to the uncertainty sur-rounding the Indian Super League, while attributing the situation to “some self-claimed reformers with vested interests”.

Bhutia responded: “He (Chaubey) said exactly the right things but who is the head of the federation, and who is controlling football right now and that person should be responsible for the same. “He is saying that it’s in a crisis but not saying that I am (Chaubey) the head of the federation that created those crises. “He does not understand what position he is in and the football in this country is in crisis and it is the responsibility of the federation and the president to solve those crises and if he cannot do that he should let somebody come in who can solve those crises.”

Bhutia and Chaubey have shared a history of verbal spats, with the former frequently questioning Chaubey’s leadership, even calling the AIFF a “circus”.