India appoint Briton as
national soccer coach

Englishman Stephen Constantine is to take over as India's national soccer coach, the All India Football Federation said on Thursday.

The 39-year-old former Nepal coach, who replaces Sukhwinder Singh, has been told to prepare a side for this year's Asian Games to be held in Pusan, South Korea, AIFF president Priyaranjan Dasmunshi told reporters.

"He will be appointed from June 15 for the Asiad project," he said.

Singh, national coach for the last three years, would be offered the post of the team's technical director, he added.

Constantine, a FIFA instructor and coach, who is now with the Asian Football Confederation, worked with the Nepal team since the last two years.

Ukranian Rustam Akramov was the last foreigner to coach the Indian team.

"India will also play in a six-nation tournament in Vietnam to prepare for the Games," Dasmunsi said adding that Shant Mitra will be the Asian Games project director.

"We will ask Sukhwinder, the current national coach, whether he can take over as the technical director of the team," Dasmunsi said.

While underlining that AIFF has not entered into any formal agreement with Constantine, Dasmunsi said further modalities will be worked only after the arrival of Constantine.

He also said Alok Mukherjee and Derek Pereira, the team's two assistant coaches, will retain their jobs.

India, twice former Asian Games champions, failed to reach the second round in the 1998 Bangkok Games and AIFF authorities hope a foreign coach can improve the side for the under-23 competition in Pusan.

Dasmunshi also said India "like many Asian countries" will vote for FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who faces Cameroon's Issa Hayatou, in the election to retain his job.

The AIFF also decided to reduce the number of foreign players allowed in the national league from four to three from the next season to encourage domestic talent.