Jamshedpur FC appoint Khalid Jamil as head coach for rest of season

Jamshedpur FC announced Khalid Jamil as a replacement for former head coach Scott Cooper after the club said on Friday that it reached an agreement to mutually part ways with the English coach.

The experienced and highly regarded AFC Pro Licensed Indian coach, Khalid, will embark on his journey with Jamshedpur FC, starting with the Kalinga Super Cup in January, followed by the remainder of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 season.

Khalid is a distinguished figure in Indian football, both as a former player and a successful manager.

He was notably the first Indian to be the permanent head coach of an Indian Super League (ISL) team when he was in charge of NorthEast United for two seasons. He is also the only Indian coach to have guided the club to the ISL playoffs.

Khalid's illustrious career includes individual accolades of winning the I-League Best Coach Award for the 2016–17 season with Aizawl FC and the FPAI Indian Football awards: Coach of the Year (2020–21) with NorthEast United FC.

Jamshedpur FC CEO, Mukul Choudhari said, “I welcome Khalid Jamil, a coach with thorough experience in ISL and ILeague. We have everything to play for with the Kalinga Super Cup and half of the ISL remaining. Hence, we believe he has the understanding, experience and track record in Indian Football to build and take us forward, starting with the very next game."

Khalid’s first engagement in the ISL was with NorthEast United where he signed as the head of academy in 2019-20. His breakthrough with the club came in 2020-21 when he was hired as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season and he led the Highlanders to the playoffs including a 10-game unbeaten streak.

In lieu of his performances, Khalid was appointed as their head coach for the 2021-22 season, making him the first Indian permanent head coach of an ISL club.

He also led Aizawl FC to the 2016–17 I-League title, making Aizawl FC the first club from the Northeast region of India to win the national title. His heroics with Aizawl FC were noticed by the entire Indian football fraternity and his achievement took him to be the head coach at East Bengal and later Mohun Bagan.

Khalid expressed his delight in signing for Jamshedpur FC. He said, “I want to thank the club management for giving me this opportunity and I feel very excited to join Jamshedpur FC. Our target is to bring Jamshedpur FC in a better position and for that we all must work hard to bring Jamshedpur on the top."

Khalid also had a message for the ever-present and vociferous fans of Jamshedpur and Jharkhand and said, "Keep supporting Jamshedpur FC, we need your support in every match, more than ever."

Khalid will be and taking charge of the squad immediately as the attention shifts to the Kalinga Super Cup where Jamshedpur’s first challenge is versus NorthEast United FC in Bhubaneswar on 10th January.