Former S.League head coach Karim Bencherifa hails from Morocco and had his greatest success in India, where he won the 2011 league and Cup double with Salgaocar and would become the nation’s highest ever paid manager.
Karim Bencherifa with his children in Singapore.
Now, as the second season of the India Super League gets underway, the 47-year-old has returned to Singapore for family reasons, and has been linked to high profile national jobs in Southeast Asia.
When Bencherifa re-emerged in Singapore in July, local newspapers reported that he was about to be take over struggling S.League outfit, Courts Young Lions.
The previous month, many of the same players were in the Singapore under-23 side who suffered an embarrassing group stage exit on home soil at the 2015 SEA Games, causing head coach Aide Iskandar to step down.
But the lowly Young Lions, under caretaker coach Juergen Raab, stunned defending champions Warriors FC 2-0 with Bencherifa watching at Woodlands Stadium and went on an inspired S.League run.
As a result, German-born Raab earned a contract extension until the end of the year.
And now agents have contacted Bencherifa about applying for the Malaysia national job, which was advertised last week and is due to be filled by late December.
“I was excited about the possibility with Young Lions because I like to work with young talent, but things changed and I have no hard feelings as I look for new openings,” Bencherifa told ESPN FC.
“I’ve never had it easy and have had to create my coaching opportunities with struggling teams, but within a few months I usually prove myself and end up being wanted by the top teams.”
Bencherifa last worked in Singapore almost a decade ago, in charge of Tanjong Pagar and Woodlands Wellington where he was twice nominated for the Coach of the Year award.
He’s proud that he was able to turn both underachieving sides around, including a 14-match unbeaten run that saw Woodlands finish a club-best third in the 2005 season and make the final of the Singapore Cup.
In a 20-year coaching career, his methods are known to be single-minded and tough and he has had a run-in or two with rival managers. But his results, especially on the sub-continent, have been impressive.
In seven years in India, he won six trophies and was runner-up on eight occasions. Apart from his career-defining spell at Goa’s Salgaocar — where he turned underachievers into a side that won the 2011 I-League title — Bencherifa was twice in charge of Mohun Bagan, considered the Manchester United of India.
The volatile Kolkata giants have had 11 different managers in the past five years, but Bencherifa had a fruitful first spell across two seasons between 2008-10 during which he claimed three trophies and finished runner-up in the I-League. His second stint of 18 months until April last year was less successful, but he did help them avoid relegation after they were docked points for a disciplinary breach.
He was with Pune FC — the city where Blackburn Rovers’ owners, the Venkys, live — until May and took them to the final of the Durant Cup and Kings Cup in Bhutan before moving back to Singapore to be with his children.
Bencherifa has watched with interest as the ISL has threatened to loosen cricket’s stranglehold on the Indian sports’ psyche. Big name coaches like Zico, Roberto Carlos and David Platt have all headed to the subcontinent for the new 2015 season.
“Apart from established football areas like Goa and Kokata, football faces a big challenge across India so the ISL has definitely helped with the sport’s popularity,” he said. “But the main issue is the calendar and how to accommodate both the I-League and ISL.”
He has never worked in the ISL, but was offered the India national job in 2011 after winning the India Coach of the Year award and trophy double. But Salgaocar refused to release him.
“I was known to promote young players and several of them went onto represent India at senior international level,” he said. “It was unfortunate that my club and the India FA didn’t come to an agreement over my release.”
Bencherifa’s star burns most brightly in India where he’s worked for many years as a World Cup and Euro television pundit for CNN-IBN. But he has no regrets about returning to Southeast Asia, and hopes to work with Football Association of Singapore in the future, even if the Young Lions’ job didn’t pan out.
“My children are Singapore citizens and they’re doing their schooling here so it was difficult to be away from them when I was in India,” he said. “So the main reason to come back here was to be with them. Only my kids are more important than football.”
Jason Dasey is senior editor of football website ESPN FC (formerly ESPN Soccernet) which now has a Southeast Asia edition.