When the 2022-23 Indian Super League (ISL) ended last month, four of the 11 teams had Spanish coaches, four were in English hands and the two countries met in the title decider. Spain triumphed, but more importantly so did ATK Mohun Bagan and Juan Ferrando who, at 42, has brought the title to one of the world’s oldest football cities. Kolkata has clubs that go back to the 19th century, derbies that can attract more than 100,000 and is the spiritual home of the game in India.
“It is not just a sport, football in Kolkata is part of the family culture, the colours, the feeling,” Ferrando says. “It is something generational and passed from parents to their children over the years. One can’t understand life without it and one must experience it to understand.”
He understands more now after the final win over Bengaluru. The ISL started in 2014 as a glamorous, standalone and short alternative to the traditional top of the football pyramid, the I-League. Almost a decade on, it has lost some of the early stardust that Alessandro Del Piero, Nicolas Anelka and Robert Pires brought but it has become the top tier of Indian football with routes to the Asian Champions League for the winners.
That will be the next challenge for Mohun Bagan but Ferrando has already come a long way. “I spent 11 years as a football player, from the age of eight, before a big injury made me get off the field,” he says. “I felt coaching was a way to experience football from another point of view.” The first experience came at 22 at Espanyol’s academy. Then he moved through Spanish clubs, including Barcelona, and left Málaga’s technical staff in 2013 for the Moldovan champions Sheriff Tiraspol.
That was the start of an unusual path and it contained a stop in 2010 at Arsenal, where he worked as a fitness coach under Arsène Wenger. “Working with Arsenal was a great experience, both personally and professionally. As a Premier League club, it has a very organised structure and top-level professionals who have the same goal as a team and get the most out of the players, those in the first team and from the developmental team.” Ferrando has had plenty of congratulatory messages from his compatriot coaches and would love to be sending one of his own to Mikel Arteta this May. “I am glad to see the club under another Spanish coach is now shining at the top of the table,” he says.
Subsequent time under Gus Poyet at Brighton, as well as more senior roles back home, in Moldova and in Greece helped Ferrando deal with India, a country unlike any other with a football scene that is a little different. “Football is a language that unites us all in the dressing room. Different experiences allowed me to learn from different people, circumstances, environments and culture.” After arriving in Goa in 2021, he moved from the west coast to east the following year to ATK. “I was surprised at how much everyone was willing to help, learn and improve from the first day I landed in India. Indian culture is very friendly.”
Going from Goa to Kolkata was a chance to challenge for the title, though Mumbai City cast a large shadow over that ambition. They were the defending champions, took first place at the end of the regular 20-game season and were the team to beat in the playoffs. Coached by Des Buckingham, this member of the City Football Group came up against Simon Grayson’s Bengaluru in the semi-finals (Aidy Boothroyd at Jamshedpur and the well-travelled former India coach Stephen Constantine at East Bengal complete the English quartet). Grayson’s team won a penalty shootout 9-8 after the two legs ended 2-2.
On the opposite, Spanish, side of the draw Ferrando, whose team finished third in the regular season, 12 points behind Mumbai, saw off two of his compatriots. First, Mohun Bagan beat Josep Gombau’s Odisha 2-0, then they overcame Manolo Márquez’s Hyderabad, winning a shootout in front of more than 50,000 fans, to get to the final against Bengaluru.
Not everyone is a fan of the playoffs, especially as more than half the teams get there, but there is guaranteed drama. “They are something different from what I was used to,” Ferrando says. “As I see it, the regular phase is more important than the knockouts because on a bad day you can lose a match but a regular phase allows you to demonstrate the value of a group throughout the season. However, it’s a way to enjoy the season for more time and give it more excitement.”
The final is the biggest game in South Asia, a region of two billion people. “The final is a show even days before. The atmosphere is something special and the coaching staff must keep cool heads during the game while emotions are running high from the first minute.”
Bengaluru were 2-1 ahead with five minutes remaining after Sunil Chhetri and Roy Krishna answered the early goal from Australia’s Dimitri Petratos but Petratos then equalised to take the game to extra time then penalties. “I just said: ‘In the goal please,’” Ferrando says. “I told them I was confident they could do it, that we were going to win the game.”
