Igor Stimac: Players from I-League, local matches are also eligible for India selection

Igor Stimac, the head coach of the Indian senior men's team, on Saturday said the eyes of his coaching staff is on the entire Indian football pyramid and the players for the national team will be selected not only from the Indian Super League but also from the I-League and even local matches.

Stimac, who recently travelled through through of the country watching matches, said, "I watch all the games throughout the season but this time, I especially went to see some of our youngsters playing in the I-League."

Explaining the reasoning behind his journey across various Indian cities, the Croatian coach, who is all set to helm India's FIFA World Cup 2026 away leg of the second-round clash against Afghanistan on March 21 in Saudi Arabia, said, “My dear Mahesh (Gawali) is responsible for following I-League players and I wanted to see some of the boys he mentioned to me play live like David (Lalhlansanga) and Bikash (Sagolsem) of Mohammedan (Sporting), Sourav of Gokulam (Kerala FC) and Edmund (Lalrindika) of Inter Kashi. I'm happy with what I have seen and we will keep following their progress.

Stimac also pointed out the need for I-League, the second division of Indian football, to follow the FIFA windows so that the players getting India call-ups can be released by their respective clubs for national team duty.

“The problem is that the I-League calendar wasn’t adjusted to FIFA windows and clubs need them now, so they will miss this opportunity of representing the U23s in Malaysia. But I am sure this will change soon," added Stimac.