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Brazilian Marcos Falopa has become the latest foreign coach to be appointed by an I-League club. However the 64-year-old new East Bengal coach will be well aware that foreign tacticians, historically, haven’t had their way in Indian club football.
Only twice out of 17 top flight seasons has a foreigner gone on to win the Indian title. Sportskeeda lists the top five foreign coaches in the I-League era.
Note: Timeline only covering I-League era since 2007
5. Carlos Roberto Pereira (Mohun Bagan 2007-08; Churchill Brothers 2009-10; 2012)
After being in charge of East Bengal in the final edition of the formerly NFL (National Football League) in 2006-07, the Brazilian became head coach of Mohun Bagan in the inaugural campaign of the newly-launched I-League. Pereira won the Calcutta Football League title with the green-and-maroon brigade, thus being the only foreign coach to win that trophy with the two arch-rivals. However there was disappointment in the Federation Cup as holders Mohun Bagan were beaten by East Bengal in the semi-finals.
Pereira though, did the double over his former club East Bengal in the I-League where Mohun Bagan finished fifth but 11 points ahead of their bitter rivals. He left Mohun Bagan after just one season and his next I-League job came in 2009 when he was appointed by league champions Churchill Brothers. Pereira failed to retain the I-League crown, finishing runners-up, but won the Durand Cup and IFA Shield and took the Goan club to the round of 16 of the AFC Cup. He left Churchill Brothers too after just one season but returned as their interim coach in the middle of the 2011-12 campaign, guiding the Goan outfit to third place finish, which eventually earned them AFC Cup qualification.
4. Zoran Djordjevic (Churchill Brothers 2008-09)
Zoran with Odafa
The Serbian hasn’t even worked in India for one full season but yet is guaranteed a place in Indian club football history as he became the first foreign coach to win the top flight. Emeka Ezeugo was appointed the Churchill Brothers head coach at the start of the 2008-09 campaign but the former Nigerian World Cupper was removed just days before the start of the I-League after he reportedly fell out with some senior players following defeat in the Durand Cup final. Zoran was the replacement and he arrived in Indian football having had plenty of experience working in the Middle East.
For years, Churchill Brothers were the ultimate chokers as they had previously finished runners-up four times but under Zoran, the family club were finally crowned champions of India. The Serb had created history and even won the Goa League title besides reaching the semi-finals of the Federation Cup. He was adjudged the Coach of the Season by the AIFF but it wasn’t enough to get him a new contract at the Goan club. Zoran, who is currently the head coach of the South Sudan national team, still boasts the best winning percentage (59.09) for a Churchill Brothers coach in the I-League.
3. David Booth (Mumbai FC 2008-09; Mahindra United 2009-10; Salgaocar 2012-13)
In the NFL era, this English coach made Mahindra United Federation Cup champions and also won the Mumbai club an invitational tournament in Maldives. But he spent just one season and only returned to Indian football four years later as head coach of the newly-formed Mumbai FC. Booth had started from scratch at Mumbai FC and got them promoted to the top flight at the very first attempt, winning the second division in 2008. The former Barnsley and Grimsby Town left back guided Mumbai to a creditable seventh place finish despite having a squad with very little top flight experience.
The following season he joined Mahindra United for his second spell and nearly won them the I-League. Booth’s Mahindra United outfit were looking good for the title in early April following a 3-1 victory over title contenders Dempo but the news that the club could disbanded affected the morale of the squad and eventually they finished third. At the end of that season, Mahindra United’s senior football team was disbanded, a decision which Booth later described as the biggest shock of his career. He took charge of Salgaocar just a month into the 2012-13 campaign at a time when the club were having a mini crisis but eventually guided them to a top half finish.
2. Trevor James Morgan (East Bengal 2010-13)
The I-League might have eluded this Englishman for three straight seasons, but Trevor Morgan’s spell at East Bengal will go down as one of the best in the club’s history. The former Hull City development coach had took charge of East Bengal at a time when they were underachieving in almost every competition. Morgan revived the glory days immediately by winning his very first tournament, the Federation Cup, without conceding a goal. He won the local league also but had to settle for the runners-up spot in the I-League despite a strong start, which included a 13-game unbeaten run.
Morgan’s second season also produced plenty of consistency from the red-and-gold brigade as they were runners-up in the I-League and Federation Cup but retained the local league and won the Super Cup and IFA Shield. However, his third season would remain as the most memorable although their final I-League position was third. After two straight winless campaigns in the AFC Cup, Morgan and his boys finally got it right in the continental stage as they became the first Indian club to end the group stage unbeaten and then went on to reach the quarter-finals. Morgan had regained the Federation Cup earlier in the season and became the first foreign coach to win a hat-trick of CFL titles, with 50,000 fans chanting his name in the title decider against Mohun Bagan. Unfortunately that match proved to be his last as he left the club despite having a year left on his contract.
1. Karim Bencherifa (Churchill Brothers 2006-08; Mohun Bagan 2008-2010; Salgaocar 2010-2012; Mohun Bagan 2012-present)
The consistency that East Bengal maintained in every competition under Trevor James Morgan would be hard for any foreign coach to match but the best foreign coach of the I-League era has to be Moroccan Karim Bencherifa for his sheer consistency over a long period of time and with different clubs. After having spells in his native Morocco, Brunei and Singapore, Bencherifa was appointed head coach of newly promoted Churchill Brothers in 2006-07, when he guided the Goan club to a fourth-place finish. The following season Bencherifa’s Churchill Brothers side came within a whisker of the I-League title as they finished second behind Dempo due to an inferior goal difference.
Bencherifa had done wonders with a young squad at Churchill and made Odafa Okolie the best foreign striker in the country. As a result he was signed up by Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan. He spent one and a half seasons there, guiding the club to their best-ever finish in the I-League in 2008-09, which included a ten-match winning run and also won three trophies including the Federation Cup. After mutually parting ways with Mohun Bagan, Bencherifa took charge of a relegation-threatened Salgaocar and in another 14 months transformed them into I-League champions despite hardly having any stars in the team. A few months later he also lifted the Federation Cup with the Goan outfit but returned to Mohun Bagan for a second spell in 2012. Despite a 12-point deduction, Bencherifa guided the 124-year-old club to safety and will be in charge of the green-and-maroon brigade for the 2013-14 season.
