ISL 2018: Josep Gombau appointed Delhi Dynamos manager

Indian Super League franchise Delhi Dynamos have appointed former Barcelona youth manager Josep Gombau as its head coach for the upcoming ISL season. He has signed a two-year contract, the club announced on Thursday.

The Spaniard will take over the reigns from Miguel Angel Portugal, who led the club to an eighth-place finish in the last edition of the competition.

Gombau, who was born in Amposta Spain, started his career as a goalkeeper but switched to coaching at the young age of 16. He began his coaching career by joining the youth team of Amposta and in 1999 he was appointed as the coach of the youth team of Espanyol.

He then moved to Barcelona four years later and joined as their youth coaching staff. In 2008 he became the technical director of FCB Escola, a youth Barcelona academy in Dubai. The 42-year-old was last in charge of the Australian A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers FC, where he was appointed as coach last year, but was relieved of his duties just six months later after failing to qualify for the 17-18 A-League Finals Series.

“I am really excited and looking forward to this opportunity in the Indian Super League. I am not new to Asian football, so I know what to expect and I am ready for this challenge. The goal is to keep the philosophy of this club intact and to take the players to the next level where they are ready to challenge for the title,” said Gombau in a statement released by the club.

Gombau is however not new to Asian football and has worked for Kitchen SC as the club’s head coach in 2009. He led team to two league titles and a cup tournament.

As a result, he  was appointed as the coach of the Australian national U-16 team. He also worked as an assistant coach of the Australian senior team in 2016.

“The idea this season was to bring in stability and get a Head Coach who shares a similar philosophy as the club and coach Gombau ticks all the right boxes,” Delhi Dynamos director, Rohan Sharma, said.”