AGENCIES
NEW DELHI
Chennaiyin FC have retained Italian World Cup winner Marco Materazzi as their manager for the third season of the Indian Super League (ISL).
Materazzi helped Chennaiyin FC win the ISL last season, where they beat FC Goa 3-2 in the final. Materazzi was also the head coach cum player for Chennaiyin in the inaugural edition of the ISL, where they lost in the semi-finals after finishing top of the league.
"I am delighted to continue with Chennaiyin FC for another season and would like to thank the owners for their continued support," Materazzi said. "We were very consistent in the first season and narrowly missed out on reaching the final despite being the last franchise to join the league. Last year our only target was to be crowned champions and we achieved that by showing immense quality and character."
Chennaiyin will also have Jeje Lalpekhlua, Dhanachandra Singh, Abhishek Das and Jayesh Rane return from their respective loan spells in the I-League next season. Each of the four players had signed two-year deals with Chennaiyin in 2015.
"This year the goal is again very simple and that is we want to keep the ISL trophy in Chennai. We are working very hard to build a very strong squad this year also and are going to give our very best to match last season's success" Materazzi said.
