Allow young footballers to make mistakes and play with freedom, says India's U-19 team coach Bibiano Fernandes

Hindustan Times

23-05-2025

Bibiano Fernandes, the highly rated head coach of India's U-19 football team, which won the SAFF Championship a few days ago, has said the team surpassed his expectations with the quality of play exhibited. The new crop of talent should continue to work hard and persevere to ensure future success and not rest on current laurels, the 48-year-old coach said in an interview, while also explaining his coaching philosophy. Excerpts:
We have scouts all over the country watching the various competitions and giving me feedback. They send me videos and reports from time to time. The Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL) was one competition that gave us a lot of inputs about the boys.
In this way, we were able to get information of the available talent across the country and once we identified them it was a matter of getting them to play within a particular philosophy. They speak different languages but football speaks a global language.
Yes. We had some very good preparation in the lead up to the SAFF Championships with matches against some of the Santhosh Trophy state sides and had a good idea of the level they could reach.
Yet, the boys surprised me. They were able to take their game up to a higher standard in the competition. I gave them all the freedom to express themselves and they did. The crowd support in Arunachal Pradesh also played a big role.
I tend to agree. In Europe, the kids play a vastly higher number of competitive matches than here. They play a series of tournaments throughout the season and hence their game awareness is superior. In India we have to ensure that we have many more tournaments and competitions in schools and at the academy level. I do believe playing matches/tournaments regularly help you to improve substantially.
Also, let's have under-13/14/15/16/17 tournaments (in every age group) instead of the current systems of having u-13, u-15, u-17 ones. This way we can develop talent better.
I would like to approach that question from a broader perspective. In my team, the goals from all parts of the field – be it wingers, attacking midfielders or from the defensive midfielder too. Danny Meitei, who is my attacking midfielder and playmaker, scored the most number of goals for us. I gave him all the freedom to go up and score.
I encourage that kind of play so that I don't have to just depend on the striker for the goals. In the senior Indian squad, we have Manvir, Chhangte and of course Chhetri. All the offensive-minded players should be able to score goals, and not just the no.9.
Continue to work hard and persevere. Patience is very important. Wait for your chance, and the opportunities will arrive as long as you are working hard.
During training sessions, it's easy to see who's giving 100% and who's not. You cannot give 99% and expect a call-up. Work hard every day and be patient.
My training regimen is match-related. We train for only match-related situations. Everything is primed toward that. It's about the ball, opponent and the goal.
In a way, it's about understanding football. The players have to be aware of their roles and responsibilities. Please allow them to make mistakes. That's how they grow. Some coaches don't allow players to play freely. I want players to express their skills and not hide them. As long as there's a positive team-related intent from the player, I don't have any problems in players making errors while trying to express themselves.
As a coach I'm ready to unlearn, so that I can absorb new things. Above all, keep things as simple as possible.
Okay. Let me elaborate. Do you get fit and play football or do you play football and get fit? To me, the best way to get fit is by playing football.
Similarly, do you train one aspect the whole day or do you mix it up? I don't train one aspect the whole day. For example, I don't do transition training the entire day. I try many elements in a day, so that we can simulate match situations.
In the north-east, the boys get to play regularly in tournaments. There are many competitions and the passion for the game is high. It will be great if all states start doing that so that we can produce more talent. I'm sure the states that you mentioned have their own plans.