Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson headlines a list of 35 names shortlisted for the post of the Indian football team coach, which also includes the highly successful ex-Bengaluru FC manager Albert Roca.

The much-travelled Sven-Goran, a Swede, and Spaniard Roca apart, Tommy Taylor (England), Hakan Ericson (Sweden), Tomislav Sivic (Serbia), Lee Clark (England) and Lucas Alcaraz Gonzalez (Spain) are some of the other candidates shortlisted for the coveted post.

The Indian team’s spirited showings in recent times had a ripple effect with the position of the men’s coach attracting over 250 applications, an unprecedented number that also includes some well-known names from Europe.

The post has been left vacant since Stephen Constantine resigned after the Indian team’s failure to make the knockout round of the AFC Asian Cup.

“If the candidate fulfills the criteria, what we are looking at, and if he is well-qualified, then we can think of that (appointing a big name),” the AIFF chief told PTI.

“The appointment will be made as soon as possible, maybe by the end of this month,” he added.

A shortlist will be prepared this week and the candidates would then be interviewed by the technical committee, and based on its recommendations, the executive committee would make the appointment from among the final list.

Established names doing the rounds are Italian Giovanni De Biasi, Hakan Ericson of Sweden, France’s Raymond Domnech and England’s Sam Allardyce.

The deadline for applying for the top job ended on March 29.