PANAJI
When FC Goa lost to Kerala Blasters 1-2 in its last match of the 2025-26 Indian Super League (ISL) season earlier this month, it could well have been Manolo Marquez’s last match as a coach of FC Goa. Though Manolo has not officially announced his departure from FC Goa, he expressed severe uncertainty about his future in Indian football due to ongoing administrative chaos and league scheduling issues.
Manolo has been critical of the state of football administration in India, calling the current situation “a complete disaster” as uncertainty continues to cloud the future of India's premier football league i.e. Indian Super League.
His comments arrived against the backdrop of a disrupted season in Indian football, where reduced fixtures, delayed scheduling, and commercial uncertainty have raised serious concerns among clubs, players, and coaching staff about planning for the future.
“I am from another culture, country, where I can say whatever, I want. Here, it doesn’t look like this. I feel in India, people in football, journalists, don’t speak clearly about the situation. The situation is a complete disaster,” Marquez had told the media ahead of FC Goa’s match against Kerala Blasters.
“For example, the team that wins the ISL play very important games (ACL 2 playoff) in less than three months. In less than two months, you must start pre-season, but nobody knows what will happen,” he added.
According to Manolo, this was a successful season for him despite FC Goa’s modest finish in the ISL.
“Our first target was to beat Al Seeb in the playoff and qualify for the group stage of AFC Champions League (ACL). We had zero points in the ACL, but except against Al Nassr in Riyadh and in Tajikistan against FC Istiklol, we were competitive in all matches. I think we deserved some points.”
“Our next target was to qualify again for Asian competitions which we did by winning the Super Cup. I have kept saying that Goa should play in such continental competitions every single year, because the level increases” he said.
For the Gaurs, this ISL season has been challenging with the exit of four foreigners. Despite having only two foreign players, FC Goa did well to finish seventh among fourteen teams with 5 wins, 3 loses and 5 draws in 13 matches to secure 20 points.
At one point, the Gaurs were in the hunt for the ISL title. But, losses against Bengaluru FC at home and Jamshedpur away, left them behind.
During last two seasons under Manolo, the Gaurs had qualified for the semi-finals. In fact, FC Goa had finished at third and second position during league stage during 2023-24 and 2024-25 season.
Manolo has been in India for the last six seasons, first with Hyderabad FC for three seasons from 2020-21 to 2022-23 and then with FC Goa from 2023-24 to 2025-26.
He has been instrumental for changing the fortunes of both these sides.
In his second season (2021–22), he guided Hyderabad FC to their maiden ISL title.
Over his three-year tenure with FC Goa, he guided the Gaurs to two playoffs and two Super Cup triumphs, made them qualify for ACL 2, thereby making them a consistently strong force to reckon with.
He even managed to coach the Indian national team simultaneously along with FC Goa through the 2024–25 domestic season. But that stint proved to be disastrous, yielding only one win against Maldives in eight matches. India suffered disappointing defeats in AFC Asian Cup qualifiers and international friendlies.
With no clarity about the future of Indian Super League and Manolo’s contract getting over by end of this month, the possibility of Manolo coaching any team in India looks remote.
