Sreejesh’s exit as junior India coach stokes the Indian-or-foreigner debate

The unceremonious exit of Olympic hero P.R. Sreejesh as India’s junior men’s hockey coach has reignited debate over foreign vs Indian coaches, despite a strong performance graph under his tenure over the past one and a half years.

Taking to his X-handle, the 38-year-old veteran of four Olympics hit back with a stinging post: “I have heard about coaches getting fired after bad performances. But this is the first time I am experiencing being removed to make way for a foreign coach.” Hockey India, on the other hand, maintains that Sreejesh was not ‘sacked’ but his contract ended in December 2025 and the current senior men’s team coach Craig Fulton had reportedly asked for a foreign counterpart in the Under-21 team as part of a strategic decision.

Frenchman Frederic Soyez, a former international with more than three decades of international coaching experience, has been named as the replacement for Sreejesh. The later, hoisted in the role of junior national coach soon after he retired as a player after Paris 2024, was at the helm when the team had five podium finishes in as many tournaments – the peak of them being a bronze at the Junior World Cup in Chennai last December. The most notable of other finishes were a gold medal at the 2024 Jr Asia Cup.

Responding to Sreejesh’s charges, Hockey India maintained it was not a sacking by any means and they had offered the goalkeeping legend the coach’s post of the country’s development team – which they felt would have furthered his ‘experience and exposure’ as a coach ahead of 2028 Olympics. The goalkeeper, however, made no bones about the fact that he considered such a role as a demotion and refused such an appointment.

‘’It seems like my coaching career comes to an end after 1.5 years, during which we played 5 tournaments and secured 5 podium finishes, including a Junior World Cup bronze medal…The Hockey India President (Dilip Tirkey) stated that the chief coach of the senior men’s team prefers a foreign head coach for the junior team, believing it will help develop Indian hockey from the junior level through to the senior level. Hence, the continued preference for foreign coaches — Can’t Indian coaches develop Indian hockey? On 07-03-2026, during a meeting with the Hon’ble Sports Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, I was told, “Sreejesh, we need coaches like you to step up and lead our country as we prepare for 2036.” However, Hockey India continues to place its trust in foreign coaches over Indian ones across all four teams.’’

No doubt, the idea of a climbdown didn’t appeal Sreejesh – which brings back to the dilemma over Indian versus foreign coaches in sporting disciplines as the later practice has become a par for the course in several Olympic disciplines like hockey, badminton, shooting, boxing, weightlifting or wrestling. A key difference between most of these disciplines and hockey is India had been a developed hockey nation – despite a prolonged doubt of Olympic medals - with several Olympians with the wherewithall to step in for coaching roles.

The debate had been more pronounced in Indian football, where the technical committee of All India Football Federation (AIFF) lobbied for a Indian face in Khalid Jamil as the head coach of the senior national squad after a series of failed experiments – which included the celebrated Igor Stimac and Manolo Marquez. Commenting on their decision, Shabbir Ali, a Dronacharya awardee and former technical director of Indian team and coach told National Herald: ‘’I would prefer an Indian coach if they can show the results. When we selected Khalid because of his performance in Indian Super League (ISL), India were all but out of reckoning of the AFC Asian Cup but he brought back a stomach for the fight some good results. The likes of Bibiano Fernandez, Crispin Chhetri also delivered with the junior and women’s teams.’’

The debate, hence, continues as Sreejesh has stoked the fire!