From Atletico de Kolkata to Pune City, coach Antonio Habas makes the switch

Antonio Habas has decided to shift from Atletico de Kolkata to FC Pune City for the next season of the ISL.

Gaurav Modwel had already begun his search for a new team manager shortly after the second season of the Indian Super League (ISL) ended. At the time, the CEO of Pune City had only managed to convince his prime candidate, former Atletico de Kolkata manager Jose Antonio Habas to travel to the city for a meeting. Yet Modwel wasn’t sure how to go about with the proceedings. Talk started with anything and everything related to the sport, slowly moving towards the franchise’s philosophy. Finally, Modwel decided to make the offer towards the end of the meeting. “By the way, do you want to be the team manager for the next season? Habas said ‘yes.’” he recalls the exchange. “The meeting lasted only 15 minutes.”

Habas, in turn, asserts that he had received offers from several clubs in the ISL, along with a few more from abroad. Yet the Spaniard decided to stick to the marquee league in India and further add to his two years’ experience here. “I know this country now and I know what this competition is about. I don’t want to keep moving after each season because it is difficult for me and my family to do that every year,” he says. One of the main attractions for joining the Pune team is the close proximity of the stadium to the team hotel. “Many teams stay at hotels that are a few hours away from the stadium. But not here. In Pune the stadium is close enough and we don’t lose out on time,” he adds.

The 58-year-old’s switch from the Kolkata to the Pune franchise is the first time in the ISL that a manager has swapped allegiances within the tournament. Yet significantly, Habas, who has had coaching stints at Spanish giants Valencia and has served as the Bolivia national coach, brings with him the experience of winning the first ever ISL season, followed by a semi-final finish in the second edition.

For the third, he has already started making decisions in terms of the player selection process. Arata Izumi and Augustin Fernandes have followed Habas by making the switch from the Kolkata team to Pune City, while Sanju Pradhan and Yumnam Raju have also been recruited. Meanwhile, Arindam Bhattacharya, Lenny Rodrigues, Gaurimangi Singh and Dharmaraj Ravanan have been retained, with Eugeneson Lyngdoh soon expected to re-join the team.