Tag: Wim Koevermans

Wim era ends as Palestine defeats India

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India, Palestine, Football, Soccer, FIFA, Friendly, October, West Bengal, Kanchenjunga, Siliguri, InternationalPalestine, the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup Champions beat India 3-2 in a friendly match that was played at the  Kanchenjunga stadium in Siliguri, on Monday evening. India were leading the match 2-1 at the half time.

India conceded as early as the 8th minute in the match. However Sunil Chhetri and Francis Fernandes scored apiece in the first half as India finished on top. The second half saw Palestine strongly coming back into the match and scoring two goals. Eventually India had to settle with a defeat in the friendly.

As yet another international friendly went by without telecast, fans were very vocal on social media about their displeasure.

Notable was also the complete silence from the ISL media team and the social media channels of ISL teams. Completely oblivious about the match, social media channels of ISL teams went about sharing totally irrelevant content. While this is not a big surprise for us, ISL which claims to take Indian football to another level omitting the national team’s friendly certainly does not bode well for the sport in India. All India Football Federation’s social media channels that used to be very active recently was also missing in action today.

This friendly against Palestine also marked the end of the Dutch coach Wim Koeverman’s stint as the national team’s manager. In the post match presentation ceremony Wim Koevermans confirmed that he is going to step down.

“This was my last match as the coach of the national team and I will not be taking up the post of AIFF’s Technical Director for private reasons,” said the Dutch coach.

German Coach for Indian National Team?

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Germany, Football, DFB, FA, India, U-17, FIFA World Cup, Wim Koevermans, Asian Games, National Team, Technical Director, Markus WeidnerAccording to a report in Hindustan times, AIFF has sought help from DFB (German national football federation) to share knowledge in areas such as coach education and player’s development. The German FA is willing to help India as well.

Markus Weidner, the head of coach education and international relations, DFB is quoted in Hindustan times, “The AIFF recently asked us to share our knowledge, especially within the technical fields such as coach education, players’ development, etc. The DFB (German national football federation) is willing to assist the AIFF,”.

For AIFF, the priority is to find a coach for the India U-17 team which will taking part in the 2017 World Cup taking place in India. The article also reports that AIFF will seek help from DFB for replacing the current national team coach Wim Koevermans, whose contract expires on October 31.
Earlier media reports suggested that Wim Koevermans will be appointed as the Technical Director of national team once Rob Baan’s stint ends by Dec 31. This article speculates that there would be a change in this plan after India’s pathetic show at the Asian Games.