Meet Jose Molina, cancer survivor, back to work his magic with Mohun Bagan

After months of uncertainty over the 2025-26 season, Indian football is showing some signs of limping back to normalcy. The AIFF (All India Football Federation) Super Cup, billed as a curtain-raiser to the Tier I League, will set the ball rolling in Goa this afternoon with both the Kolkata giants featuring on Day 1.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant, which won the double of ISL league and shield last season, will be opening against an all-Indian outfit Chennaiyin FC – and the legion of fans will be eager to see if their celebrated coach Jose Francisco Molina can work his magic with the star-studded team again. East Bengal, a past winner of this trophy but who had been struggling to carve a niche in the big league, will look for a winning start under another Spaniard Oscar Bruzon against Dempo SC in the first game.

Molina, the former Spanish goalkeeper and a celebrated coach, is no stranger to challenges in life. The pressure on him as the helmsman of arguably the most successful club in Indian football over the past decade – especially since the maroon-and-green hasn’t won this trophy yet.

However, a cancer beater at his prime, he believes in treating all rivals as equals: ‘’They (Chennaiyin FC) have some quality players. They may not be foreigners, but they will be strong and we need to be at our best to beat them.’’

Back in 2001 and with Molina then in the high noon of his career with Deportivo La Coruna, life threw a curveball at him when he was diagnosed with the dreaded testicular cancer – something which afflicted the tainted Tour de France icon Lance Armstrong. After undergoing treatment, he was supposed to return to action when a dreaded relapse occurred – forcing him to announce a temporary retirement from the sport and leave the club extremely dear to him.

Cut to 2025, the 55-year-old Molina remains one of the most inspirational figures in Spain and the world of sport in general who beat cancer to take to top flight coaching and go on to become the Sporting Director of the Spanish national team. While he has nine international caps for Spain between 1996 and 2000, Molina has plied his trade for the likes of Atletico de Madrid, Valencia, Levante apart from Deportivo.

For a man of such standing, one would have expected Molina to be a wee bit condescending at any achievement in the context of Indian football – what with the country languishing in 130-plus region in Fifa rankings. The quintessential pro that he is, Molina was far from it in an interaction as he said that he was still on a learning curve earlier this year.

Asked at the end of last season as to whether he sees the double crown in ISL in 2024-25 season as the peak of his career, Molina said: ‘’ To be honest, I always think that everyday I can be a better coach because I am learning every day, I’m trying things, I’m making mistakes. I keep working at it every day and I’m better as a coach.’’

Incidentally, Molina had proved to be the man with the Midas touch for this historic Indian club when he had guided them to their first ISL crown in 2016, with the club then branded as ATK Mohun Bagan (thanks to a tie-up with Atletico Madrid).

There are enough life lessons to learn from the man who is often called upon in Spain for delivering motivational talks on his experience of beating cancer. Speaking to students and teacher on the degree in Physical Activity and Sports, Molina said few years back: ‘’exercising helped me overcome cancer.’’

Elaborating on his regime, Molina said he would feel fatigued when he hit the gym during his chemotheraphy sessions. ‘’On weeks off, when I could go to the gym and do strength training with machines and weights, nothing out of this world. It helped me feel better,’’ he said. Once recovered, Molina said: ‘’I started pre-season training like any normal footballer, nothing I was not used to doing normally, because I wasn’t injured, just tired.’’

 Welcome back, Jose Molina!