The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has said applications for the national team’s vacant head coach role that claimed to be from Pep Guardiola and Xavi were “not genuine.”
The AIFF’s national team director told The Times of India on Thursday that ex-Barcelona coach Xavi’s name was on the list of applicants. The report also quoted an AIFF technical committee member saying the his candidacy was deemed too expensive to pursue.
In a statement on Saturday, the AIFF said it had evaluated 170 applications for the head coach role, eventually shortlisting three candidates and dismissed applications from Guardiola and Xavi as hoaxes.
It had not been previously reported that the AIFF had also received an application purporting to be from Manchester City manager Guardiola.
“The AIFF received an email furnishing the applications from Spanish coaches Pep Guardiola and Xavi Hernández. The authenticity of their applications could not be confirmed, and it has since emerged that the email applications were not genuine,” the AIFF said.
The AIFF sacked former India manger Igor Stimac in June last year before appointing Spaniard Manolo Marquez, who left the job this month and returned to his role as coach of Indian Super League team FC Goa.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.