After finishing bottom of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-2023 season points table, NorthEast United have begun their work early on for the upcoming season as the club has officially announced the appointment of Spanish tactician Juan Pedro Benali, who has signed a 1 year deal with the club with an option for another year.
Hero ISL News: NorthEast United FC announce the appointment of Juan Pedro Benali as Head Coach
Juan Pedro Benali is a 55-years-old Spanish coach who has a huge experience of having managed football clubs all around the world, particularly in the Europe, Africa and Asia continent.
Juan Pedro began his managerial career with Spanish lower league side Las Rozas CF. He then worked for Athletico Madrid as Technical Assistant for several weeks before returning to managerial stint with Ittihad Khemisset, a Moroccan side.
He then managed SC Chabab Mohammedia before making a move to Asia with the Al-Gharafa SC in the Qatar Stars League where he helped the team finish 2nd but level on points with the champions, missing out on the league title by goal difference.
Juan Benali has also worked as the Technical Assistant of the Finland national team. He has a connection with the Indian Super League (ISL) as well. He was a Sporting Director of the Moroccan side Moghreb Tétouan, the same club for which the likes of Hugo Boumous and Mourtada Fall played for and Sergio Lobera was the manager of.
He has also worked under former Odisha FC head coach Stuart Baxter as the Assistant Coach of the Japanese side Vissel Kobe, the team he later managed and helped them getting promoted to the J1 League and his team also won the Best Attack award as well.
Talking about NorthEast United FC, they had a really tough season. Israeli manager Marco Balbul was appointed the head coach of the club before the start of the Indian Super League (ISL) season. However, he was sacked midway through the season after the team failed to register a single win under him and were languishing at the bottom of the points table.
Balbul was replace by former I-League winning Head Coach with Gokulam Kerala FC Vincenzo Alberto Annese. Annese also couldn't turn the fortune around except for a win against ATK Mohun Bagan.
However, Vincenzo Annese also moved on from the club at the end of the season, joining the Nepal national team as it's head coach.
The club since it's inception in 2014 has only made it to the Hero ISL Playoffs only twice. The fans have been demanding for a change in the structure of how the club is run. Looks like the upcoming season could just be that with former Bengaluru FC CEO Mandar Tamhane joining the side to take charge of its day to day running affairs.
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