Exclusive Interview with Stephen Constantine
Stephen Constantine is a renowned figure in the football world, known for his contributions to various national teams. Having achieved success with Nepal, India, Rwanda, Malawi and now Pakistan, Constantine speaks the universal language of football with distinction. We had a delightful conversation about his career journey, experiences with different football cultures, and his goals in Pakistan.
1-) You began your football career in the United States and have since coached in various countries. How has working in different cultures impacted you?
- It has been an amazing experience I have managed to visit 90 countries so far and pretty much all of them have been because of Football , being able to live among different peoples with so many diverse cultures really has been unbelievable. The impact has been huge on many levels.
2-) Throughout your career, you have managed several national teams. What are the main differences between managing a national team and a club team?
- Well from my perspective it is like this, Managing a National Team regardless of the country is an absolute privilege and an honor. For a national association to ask you the foreigner to take over the National team is as big an honor as you can get in my opinion. With the national team you have 3-4 days to work on a few things before the first game of a qualifying competition so you really only have 2 things that you can work from the usual 4 things that you would have at club level. There is the mental aspect and how you motivate the team , although this is easy because if you are not motivated to play for your national team perhaps you should not be there. The second thing is the tactical aspect , what system are you going to use and do the players understand how you want to play that particular system? The other aspect in the differences is for me the result, if I lose at the national team level I have to wait a month or more sometimes before I can take the field again and try and erase the loss of the previous game. At club level we have 4 main areas that we would work on , Mental, Physical, Tactical and Technical all of these aspects can be improved upon during the week , however that is not possible at International level.
3-) During your coaching tenure in Nepal, you were awarded a medal by the King of Nepal. What did this honor mean to you?
- Well it was huge basically in Nepal it is a knighthood , I am the only foreign Coach to ever receive this award and it is still to this something I did not expect to happen and every time I look at the award it brings tears to my eyes, extremely proud moment in my life.
4-) While managing the Rwanda national team, the team achieved a significant rise in the FIFA rankings. What were the key
factors behind this success?
- With Rwanda we had a group of players who were very young and we really spent alot of time on developing strong ties with each other our average age was roughly around 23 and everyone bought into the way we wanted to play one of my best teams in terms of togetherness. Getting Rwanda to its highest ever FIFA ranking was also a special moment for me and the entire country the support I had from the fans was and still is to this day amazing. Amavubi the Wasps, and living in Kigali was also very pleasant.
5-) Leading Pakistan to the second round of the World Cup qualifiers was a major achievement. What strategies do you plan to implement to continue this success?
- Yes it was the first time in their history that they had managed to qualify and while it allowed us to play another 6 games in the Asian WCQ it was also a major learning experience for the team and the country. Pakistan has no league in the country and the clubs that are there play small tournaments every so often. So there is not daily training , no regular games, no monitoring of training loads, no opportunity to work on all the many aspects that you need to do in football. We have 10-12 players that play abroad and that is of course a big help but as yet we do not have too many players playing in the bigger leagues around the world. So we a long way from being where we want to be at the moment.
6-) How would you compare the football cultures of the different countries you have worked in throughout your career?
- Well I would say very different , working in England at Millwall in the Championship was like living in a bubble, there literally was nothing else in my mind then training, playing travelling ,meetings , extra sessions then going to see the reserve team and get home about 11pm then up again next morning around 6am to travel to the training ground. People sometimes do not realize how tough it is to be in the English league and survive. Greece was also very hectic and playing against the giants in Greece like Olympiakos PAOK and so was really great experiences. I would say every country has its own identity and no one country has ever been the same as another.
7-) As a FIFA Instructor, what does it mean to you to share your experiences and guide other coaches?
- Well being part of the FIFA Instructors list was amazing, I love being able to pass on my experience and knowledge and for FIFA to recognize this and send me all over the world to help other coaches improve was immensely satisfying.
8- ) Your autobiography, “From Delhi to the Den,” has garnered significant interest. What memories and experiences did you most want to share in writing this book?
- From Delhi to the Den was in fact the idea of my friend who helped me write it Owen Amos , I guess I wanted people to know how much I love this game and to what extremes I would go to play and coach the game. I believe we all have a book within us and I thought there are other people worse off then me and perhaps if they read what I had to do to be a Coach that it would inspire others to do so. I understand that my career has not taken me to the top leagues in Europe or the World Cup ( I’m working on that), it has given me the chance to eat in the middle of the desert in Sudan, to be Knighted by the King of Nepal, to play in the FA CUP against Everton and so many other magical moments, qualify for the Asian Cup Finals with India. I hope we can come up with another book !!!!
9-) What are your thoughts on the infrastructure and league system of football in Pakistan?
- This question is unfortunately the most difficult one to answer, no league means no chance Realistically we qualified with a group of players who mostly dont train every day, are not paid on time, do not have access to standard equipment as almost every other team in the world has and Made history for Pakistan and Pakistan Football they are my heroes. The concerned parties in Pakistan, AFC and FIFA need to communicate and solve this issue.