Kolkata: Mohun Bagan Friday announced the appointment of 47-year-old Spaniard Kibu Vicuna as their head coach for the 2019-20 season.
An UEFA Pro Licence holder, Vicuna was at the helm of Wisla Plock in the Poland First Division league ‘Ekstraklasa’, and he will succeed Khalid Jamil.
Vicuna has a wealth of experience in coaching in Spain and Poland and won the Polish League and the Polish Cup in 2012-13 as part of Legia Warsaw coaching staff.
“We have spoken with Kibu and he is happy and excited about the challenges of coaching in Mohun Bagan,” directors of Mohun Bagan FC, Srinjoy Bose and Debashish Dutta, said in a statement.
“Kibu has the ability, knowledge and experience. He promotes young players and has a style and a way of working similar to ours. He has a philosophy of the game that is very much like Mohun Bagan’s philosophy and is a hard worker. Also, he is passionate about applying advanced technology to both training and matches,” the statement read.
In 2015-16, Vicuna won the Polish Super Cup as part of the Lech Poznan coaching staff and has worked extensively as an assistant with Jan Urban, an experienced Polish coach who represented Poland in 1986 World Cup.
He was also an integral part of Legia Warsaw coaching team which was beaten in final playoff round of UEFA Champions League and subsequently played UEFA Europa League group stage in 2013-14.
He has coached prominent footballers like Raul Garcia, César Azpilicueta, Nacho Monreal and Javi Martinez and was involved with youth teams of former La Liga club CA Osasuna, the statement read.
Vicuna also has acquired several professional coaching titles from Spanish Football Federation such as Professor of Tactics, Master of Physical Preparation.
PTI
