Kamal Ghorui
Panaji: Bengaluru FC have appointed former India coach and technical director, Savio Medeira, as head of youth development.The club is expected to make a formal announcement later this week.A respected figure in Indian football, Medeira brings over 35 years of experience at all levels of the game. He joins Bengaluru at a time when the club has increased its focus towards youth development and started contributing plenty of players to the national teams. Seven of the club’s players were part of the India U-20 squad at the SAFF Championship in Maldives, while six made it to the senior national team for the AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong.“Medeira is a top profile and certain to make things work at Bengaluru,” said a senior official. “The expectations will be high as the club has always set high standards and Medeira is known to thrive in such a set-up. Everyone is looking forward to this partnership.”Until Khalid Jamil took over as the coach last year, Medeira, 58, was the last domestic coach for the senior national team. He had various stints as chief coach and then worked as technical director for the All India Football Federation (AIFF).The former India midfielder was also AIFF’s head of coach education for several years.Once he left AIFF, Medeira took up an assignment with Sporting Clube de Goa as technical director, before parting ways last year.More recently, he was technical expert with FIFA coaching development and conducted courses across the continent.Medeira enjoyed a 17-year playing career from 1983-2000 as a midfielder, majorly for Salgaocar FC, winning two Rover Cups, Federation Cup, and the 1997-98 National Football League (NFL) title. After retiring as a player, he transitioned into coaching with Salgaocar.
