Kolkata: The Champions of the inaugural edition of ISL and the Semi-finalists of second edition, Atlético de Kolkata announced today the appointment of José Francisco Molina Jiménez as their Head Coach, for the third and upcoming season of the Indian Premier League.
Molina has an outstanding profile as a player winning the La Liga and Copa Del Rey titles with Atletico de Madrid in their famous 1995-96 season before joining Deportivo La Coruna with whom he once again lifted the Copa Del Rey trophy.
He was also awarded the best goalkeeper award for the lowest goals to games ratio in La Liga back in 1996. He made nine appearances for the Spanish national team and was part of the 1998 World Cup and two European Championships of 1996 and 2000.
During his playing career, Molina was detected with testicular cancer during his stint with Deportivo and after undergoing an operation, the goalkeeper suffered from a recurrence which forced him to temporarily retire. However, he made miraculous recovery to rejoin his first team in three months or so.
Molina had successful stints as coach with Villarreal ‘C’ and ‘B’ teams. He also coached Getafe and recently also worked with Kitchee SC in Hong Kong.
Interestingly last season with Kitchee, he faced East Bengal twice in the AFC Cup with the games ending in a 2-2 (at home) and 1-1 (away) draw.
According to Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman RP- Sanjiv Goenka Group, Co-owner, Atlético de Kolkata, “I welcome José Molina into our Atlético de Kolkata family. Molina’s experience with leading clubs of Spain and other parts of the world makes him an ideal candidate to take our on field performance few notches higher in his forthcoming assignment. He will be instrumental in building the team’s strategy and help us select some good prospective footballers for the upcoming season. We wish him all the success and I am definitely sure that he will showcase the finest quality of football under his able guidance that has become synonymous to Atlético de Kolkata.“
ATK team management have also revealed that Debjit Majumdar who was on their radar for a long time is set to ink the dotted lines soon with East Bengal’s left winger Bikash Jairu and Mohun Bagan right back Pritam Kotal.
Bengaluru FC defender Keegan Pereira is also on ATK’s radar and it seems his confirmation of the signing is just a matter of time.
Pereira has been in good form this season for the Blues having played his part in their second I-League triumph. Ashley Westwood has brought his versatility by deploying him both as a left back and a center-back this season.
Meanwhile, Atletico De Kolkata have retained their four foreigners Tiri, Oftense Nato, Sameehg Doutie and Iain Hume from the last edition of the ISL. ATK team mangement are also in talks with Gavilan and is certain that he will be retained too.