Club or country?: Blue Tigers coach Khalid Jamil faces his first hurdle

It’s only less than a week that Khalid Jamil has taken charge of the Blue Tigers with an eye on the CAFA Nations Cup as his first assignment, but he has already realised how the odds are stacked against him. Mohun Bagan Super Giant, the Indian Super League champions, are not ready to release the selected probables on the grounds that the upcoming event is not a part of the ‘FIFA window’ while the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the club are now trading charges over injury management of key players.

 As many as seven players of Mohun Bagan have been selected by Jamil for the preparatory camp in Bengaluru: Liston Colaco, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Deepak Tangri, Lalengmawia,  Manvir Singh and goalkeeper Vishal Kaith. The Kolkata giants have also denied the release of four youngsters—Dippendu Biswas, Suhail Bhat, Priyansh Dubey and T. Abhishek Singh — who are with the India U-23 side preparing for next month’s AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers in Qatar.

Hitting out at the federation, a Mohun Bagan official pointed to the case of their skipper Subhasish Bose, who has been sidelined since reportedly suffering an injury during India’s Asian Cup qualifier against Bangladesh in March this year. “Every time they take our players, three-four of them return injured, and the AIFF is least bothered to communicate, compensate, or even check on them,” the official told the local media. There is now a buzz that even East Bengal are not willing to release their selected players, though the commencement of ISL 2025-26 is under a cloud.

However, in a statement late on Tuesday evening, the AIFF refuted the charges of neglecting injuries: ‘’The AIFF would like to categorically state that Subhasish Bose did not suffer any injury during the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers final round match against Bangladesh. He played 85 minutes in that match and was substituted purely as a tactical decision, not due to injury.’’ The federation pointed out in their statement that the senior defender subsequently played in both legs of ISL semi-final and final in April and concluded their statement: ‘’We urge all stakeholders and media houses to refrain from misinformed speculation and rely on verified updates from official channel and sources.’’

The club versus country debate is nothing new even in the global context – with the former high profile coach Igor Stimac often been a vocal critic of the ISL club’s reluctance over releasing players for national commitments. Mohun Bagan’s sense of priority is understandable as despite the ISL season in limbo, they have AFC Champions League matches round the corner.

Meanwhile, Khalid – who was released by Jamshedpur FC for a two-year agreement with AIFF – has announced an all-Indian support staff for his boys. While Mahesh Gawali, a contemporary of the coach as a player, is the assistant coach, Feroze Sheriff is the goalkeeping coach and Manuel D’Souza is the strength and conditioning coach.

The 48-year-old’s first assignment will be the CAFA Nations Cup, where India have been clubbed into Group B and will travel to Hisor, Tajikistan, to play the hosts (19 August), Iran (1 September) and Afghanistan (4 Sept). The top teams from groups A and B will play the final on September 8 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the two second-placed teams will face each other in a battle for third place on the same day in Hisor.

The national camp began on 16 August at the Prakash Padukone Centre of Excellence with 22 players, with 13 others currently fulfilling their respective club engagements in the Durand Cup. ‘’The important thing is that we remain united as a team, because this will be India’s first-ever participation in the in the CAFA Nations Cup and it will be a good opportunity for us to play stronger opponents. Therefore, for the national interest, we would like to request cooperation from clubs to release players on time to ensure their adequate participation during the preparatory camp.”

Now, haven’t we heard that before?