ISL – High intensity is connected to winning mentality: Kerala Blasters FC’s Mikael Stahre

Kerala Blasters FC’s newly appointed head coach Mikael Stahre feels high-intensity football is connected to winning mentality. Stahre has taken over the coaching baton from Ivan Vukomanovic for the upcoming season of the Indian Super League.

The Swede has signed a two-year contract, that will keep him at Kerala Blasters FC until 2026. Stahre will bring a lot of experience to the table and will look to get the best out of his players.

He has managed more than 400 matches with teams such as AIK (Sweden), Panionios (Greece), IFK Göteborg (Sweden), Dalian Yifang (China), BK Häcken (Sweden), San Jose Earthquakes (USA), Sarpsborg 08 (Norway), and Uthai Thani (Thailand).

Stahre’s best results include leading AIK to the Swedish Allsvenskan title (league title), Svenska Cupen (cup), and Supercupen (cup), and guiding IFK Göteborg to the Svenska Cupen (cup).

“Super excited to meet any group. The initial days are something special, and you always will remember (these days). We have great guys, great staff members and in general, really good energy in the squad and I’m really happy so far,” Stahre told the Kerala Blasters FC media team.

Stahre revealed that he was on the same page with the management and signed up with Yellow Tuskers because of the massive fan base.

“There were two things. There was ambition from the ownership and, the message the sporting director gave me, in the first initial thoughts, he talked about the squad, about his plans and we hit it off immediately and then of course to be a part of such a big club like Kerala Blasters and also this massive fan base, these were the two main things,” he said.

The Swedish football manager said the team needs to have a fighting spirit and the players must fight for their spots in the playing XI to get the desired results.

“It is a complex sport and you know you have to deal with the eleven starting players and you need to deal with the entire picture. The guys in the squad are also competitors in that sense and also have to fight for the spots and they have to challenge each other,” he said.

“By the end of the day, we need to be united to have great team spirit. It’s up to everyone but it’s also up to me to address and create an atmosphere of daily activity of everyone and everyone can express themselves and do what they’re good at this is the most important thing for me like a head coach,” he added.

Kerala Blasters FC finished the ISL 2023-24 season in fifth place with 10 wins in 22 games and a total of 33 points.