Kolkata: Former Spanish World Cupper Jose Francisco Molina will be Atletico de Kolkata's head coach for the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) football succeeding Antonio Habas, the champions of the first edition announced on Tuesday.
Molina represented his national side Spain at the 1998 World Cup and two European Championships in 1996 and 2000 and in his 11 years of professional career he appeared in 189 matches with co-owner Atletico Madrid.
As a player, Molina went on to win the La Liga and Copa Del Rey titles with Atletico de Madrid in their famous 1995-96 season before joining Deportivo de La Coruna with whom he lifted the Copa Del Rey trophy.
Molina had been the manager of teams like Getafe B, Villarreal C, Villarreal B, Villarreal, and Kitchee. The head coach’s position became vacant after their ISL winning coach Habas left for FC Pune City.
I welcome Molina into our 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 Atletico de Kolkata," co-owner Sanjiv Goenka, chairman RP- Sanjiv Goenka Group, stated in a release.
Molina has been a successful manager for clubs like Villarreal B and C divisions, Getafe B divisions and Kitchee (one of the most talked about teams from Hong Kong).
In his short one year stint in Hong Kong, Molina managed to achieve a remarkable domestic treble with the Premier League, League Cup and FA Cup and he guided Kitchee to the AFC Cup quarter finals.
