I-League 2018: Ex-Indian Arrows boss Luis Norton de Matos to coach Royal Antwerp FC's B team

Luis Norton de Matos
Luis Norton de Matos

Former India U17 football team head coach Luis Norton de Matos has joined the B team of Royal Antwerp FC in Belgium, after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced that the Portuguese would no longer be coaching the country's youth teams.

Matos has replaced Ken Bastin as the new coach of the Royan Antwerp B team, as the latter goes on to take charge of the test players.

Matos has had an eventful stint in India, and was brought in to be the head coach for the host nation at the FIFA U17 World Cup. The Blue Colts finished at the bottom of their group, although some of the display by the young guns had impressed a number of the fans.

Certain players had also sparked some interest from foreign clubs, with goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem courting interest from Turkish clubs, before he was invited for a trial at Motherwell FC in Scotland.

Following the U17 World Cup Matos also went on to take charge of the dugout for the India U19 team at the AFC U19 Championship qualifiers, before he was finally named manager of the Indian Arrows side, a junior team formed by the AIFF, that would play in the I-League.

While they finished bottom of the table here as well, the teenaged boys showed some promising performances against the senior teams of the country's top division.

The India U20 team was set to play in the COTIF Cup in Spain under Matos this month, but the Portuguese parted ways with the AIFF last month. While the country's apex football governing body had announced that Matos had vacated his post due to "personal reasons", the 64-year-old has since gone on to join Royal Antwerp.

With Floyd Pinto being named as the new head coach of the India U20 team, it remains to be seen how the 'Indian Arrows', as they are better known, perform in the COTIF Cup. As of now, they have lost both their matches 0-2 and 0-3 against Murciana U20 and Mauritania U20.

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Edited by Soumo Ghosh