Stephen Constantine (born 16 October 1962) is an English professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who is the manager of the

Pakistan national football team The Pakistan national football team () represents Pakistan in men's international Association football, football in FIFA-authorized events and is controlled by the Pakistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Pakistan. Paki ...

Early and personal life

Constantine was born on 16 October 1962 in London. He is of Greek-Cypriot descent. He is a fan of English club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Constantine is married and has three daughters; his family were living in Cyprus while he was coaching in Sudan.

Playing career

Constantine played in the United States for the Pennsylvania Stoners and the

New York Pancyprian-Freedoms New York Pancyprian-Freedoms is an American amateur soccer team based in Astoria, New York, United States. Founded in 1974, the team currently plays in the Eastern Premier Soccer League. The team plays its home games at Belson Stadium on the ...

. He retired from playing at the age of 26, following a serious knee injury.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing, Constantine spent his early coaching career in the United States and Cyprus.

Nepal

Constantine coached the Nepal national team between 1999 and 2001. He led the national side to the runners-up position at the 1999 South Asian Games. The next year, he was awarded the Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu award by the country's King.

India

Constantine was then manager of the India national team from 2002 to 2005. He also guided the Indian team winning silver medal at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games. After leaving India he was the first-team coach for English club Millwall during the 2005–06 season. He has also worked in England for

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

Malawi

In January 2007, he was on a two-man shortlist, alongside Carlos Alberto da Luz, for the manager's job of the Malawi national team. He was named as Malawi manager in February 2007, with the role beginning on 1 March 2007. He resigned in April 2008.

Sudan

He became manager of the Sudan national team in February 2009.

Clubs in Cyprus and Greece

After leaving Sudan he managed in the Cypriot domestic leagues with

APEP Apophis (; ), also known as Apep () or Aphoph (, ) Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Re ...

and Nea Salamis Famagusta, the latter of which he guided to promotion in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

. He was also manager of

Ethnikos Achna Ethnikos Achna Football Club (), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional Association football, football club based in the village of Dasaki Achnas. Founded in 1968, the club currently plays in the ...

from December 2012 to February 2013. In July 2013, he was linked with the Jamaica national team vacancy. He became the assistant manager of Greek club Apollon Smyrni in November 2013. He set up the ''British Coaches Abroad Association'' in November 2013.

Rwanda

He became manager of the Rwanda national team in May 2014, taking charge of his first match in June. He stated his aim was to build a team strong enough to challenge for the

2016 African Nations Championship The 2016 African Nations Championship, also known for short as the 2016 CHAN and for sponsorship purposes as the Orange S.A., Orange African Nations Championship, was the 4th edition of the biennial African association football tournament organ ...

, which Rwanda were due to host. In December 2014 Rwanda attained their highest ever

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

, of 68th position. Later that month he was linked with a return to India as their new national manager, and in early January 2015 he was offered the position.

Return to India

In December 2014, it was reported that Constantine would become the next head coach of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

again, after

Wim Koevermans Wilhelmus ("Wim") Jacobus Koevermans (born 28 June 1960) is a Dutch football coach and former player. A central defender, he earned one cap for the Netherlands national team. Koevermans was a member of the Dutch team that won the European title ...

' contract ran out. He would beat the favourite for the position,

Ricki Herbert Ricki Lloyd Herbert (born 10 April 1961) is a New Zealand former footballer and manager. He is the current director of football at Hamilton Wanderers AFC. Herbert was formerly head coach of the New Zealand national team, stepping down after ...

. On 16 January 2015, it was confirmed that Constantine had returned to take over India for a second stint. His first match as India head coach came on 12 March 2015 in the qualifier against Nepal at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium. Two goals from Sunil Chhetri lead India to a 2–0 victory and lead going into the second leg in

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

. A 0–0 draw at the

Dasarath Rangasala Stadium Dasharath Rangasala ( ; ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Tripureshwar, Kathmandu. It is named after Dasharath Chand, one of the four great martyrs of Nepal. The stadium is used mostly for football matches and cultural programmes. The stadium h ...

saw India progress to the next round of World Cup/Asian Cup qualifying. As a result of India's top results against Nepal, the country saw a rise by 26 in the April FIFA World Rankings to 147. In April 2015, it was announced that India would be placed in Group D for the World Cup/Asian Cup qualifiers with Asia's top side,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, as well as

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

, and

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

. India came bottom of the group, winning only one game. In January 2016, Constantine led India to the

SAFF Championship The SAFF Championship (erstwhile SAARC Gold Cup and SAFF Gold Cup), is the primary association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the South Asian Football Fede ...

title, beating Afghanistan 2–1 in the final. He led India to 100th in the FIFA rankings as of June 2017. The win against

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

in June was India's eighth in a row. The unbeaten streak ran to 13 games, including 11 wins, but ended with a 2–1 defeat to Kyrgyzstan in March 2018. In 2016 he rejected the opportunity to manager English League One club Port Vale. During the unbeaten run, India qualified for the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international association football, football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

. In June 2018, India won the Intercontinental Cup, beating Kenya in the final. Afterwards, Constantine was named

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

coach of the year in India. THA-IND match 20190106 AFC Asian Cup 9

At the 2019 Asian Cup, Constantine said he was aiming for progression from the group stages. The team won their opening game against Thailand, but finished fourth in their group after conceding a last-minute penalty in their final group game against Bahrain, and Constantine resigned from his position as manager. After his resignation, the

All India Football Federation All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation. It is affiliated wit ...

president Praful Patel said: "It's been a wonderful journey. We have travelled a long distance together, and the world has seen it all." Constantine took India from 173 in the

FIFA World Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...

in March 2015 to 97 in December 2018.

Pafos

In January 2021 he became chief football operations officer at Cypriot club Pafos. In February 2021 he was appointed head coach. His contract expired on 30 June 2021.

East Bengal

In January 2022 he was linked with the vacant role as the Singapore national team manager. In July 2022 he became head coach of

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

club

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

. He left the position in April 2023.

Pakistan

On 30 September 2023, Constantine was announced as the head coach of the

. Constantine led Pakistan to their first-ever victory in World Cup qualifiers in their first fixture at home in 8 years by beating

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, and qualifying for the second round for the first time. He left the role in November 2024. On 3 March 2025, Constantine was appointed again solely for the match against

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

at the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification third round, with a decision on a long-term role to be made later. Constantine was given the duty of leading the team again in June, for the Myanmar game.

FIFA

Constantine has worked as a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Instructor, and is a member of FIFA's elite coaching panel.

Other

In March 2018, Constantine's autobiography, ''From Delhi to the Den'', was nominated for the Football Writers' Association book of the year, part of the British Sports Book Awards. As of January 2025, no other Englishman had managed as many foreign national teams as Constantine.

References

External links