Hyderabad: The All India Football Federation's technical committee has chosen and recommended Igor Stimac as the men's national team coach. Croatia's Stimac was the only candidate who flew to New Delhi to attend the interview for the role. The former Croatian midfielder was picked above Albert Roca, Hakan Ericson, and Lee Min-Sung – who were interviewed on Thursday through video conferencing.
So, here ETV Bharat sports brings you five unknown facts about the Blue Tigers' newest coach Igor Stimac.
- A defender to reckon with
Stimac played 53 matches for Croatia between 1990 and 2002. Along with Slaven Bilic he formed the twin defensive pillars for their national team. Stimac scored two goals for his national team. He was also a member of the highly talented undivided Yugoslavia U-20 team that won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, scoring two goals in four games in the tournament.
- Club games
The former Croatia defender has 53 caps as a player for Croatia
At the club level, the defender played for a professional Croatian football club named Hajduk Split and, most notably, Derby County of England that currently competes in the English Football League Championship, the second tier for English football. He scored a goal on his debut for the Los Angeles Rams. In all, Štimac made 84 league appearances for the Major League soccer team.
Štimac started his managerial career in 2001 when he took the charge of his native club Hajduk Split acting as well as Sport Director winning the last two championships for the club. In September 2009, he was appointed as the FC Zagreb manager replacing Luka Pavlovic, and Stimac managed to save FC Zagreb from relegation and left the club at the end of the season.
- Coach of Croatia
The former Croatia defender has 53 caps as a player for Croatia
In July 2012, Štimac was appointed the new Croatia national football team manager, after the departure of his former national team teammate Slaven Bilić. On 15 October 2013, Croatia lost their final World Cup qualifying match 0–2 against Scotland which saw Štimac tendering his resignation to Croatian Football Federation.
- World Cup Bronze Medalist
Stimac was a vital cog of Croatia squad that left everyone spell bounded as the Southeast Europe country finished third in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. That was the first time that Croatia dominated on the word level before making the final the 2018 World Cup.
