Stephen Constantine Resigns as India Coach After AFC Asian Cup Exit

Stephen Constantine has resigned as India coach and confirmed that he will be moving on with immediate effect.

The Englishman, who was in his second stint with the Indian team, made this announcement in the post-match press conference in Sharjah after his side were defeated by Bahrain 1-0 in their final Group A match.

After the disappointing end to the campaign in UAE Constantine said, “I feel my cycle here is finished. I have left the players here in a much better place than when I arrived.”

India’s defeat to Bahrain meant they finished fourth in the group and yet again failed to qualify for the knockout stages.

The 56-year-old’s reign saw the Indian football team make their fourth appearance at the AFC Asian Cup in UAE where they began with a brilliant performance as they thrashed Thailand 4-1. That was followed up 2-0 and 1-0 defeats against UAE and Bahrain respectively.

Constantine, whose contract was up for renewal after January 31st, had joined the Indian team for his second stint in January 2015.

Constantine is credited with helping the Indian team come up the FIFA rankings from 173 to a second highest ever 96 in 2017.

In January 2016, Constantine led India to the SAFF Championship title when they beat Afghanistan 2-1 in the final. He led India to 100th in the FIFA rankings as of June 2017.

The win against Kyrgyzstan in June was India's eighth in a row and the team also went on an unbeaten streak that ran up to 13 games, including 11 wins, but ended with a 2-1 defeat to Kyrgyzstan in March 2018.

The Indian coach also oversaw a title-winning campaign in the Intercontinental Cup which was a four-nation tournament along with Kenya, Chinese Taipei and New Zealand and was held in Mumbai.

Ahead of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the Englishman’s tactics and team selection policies were topics of hot discussion with talk of unrest within the camp also being reported.