East Bengal football club announced the appointment of Mario Rivera as their head coach on New Year’s Day for the remainder of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 season. Rivera replaced Jose Manuel Diaz, who parted ways with the club following a winless season so far. (More Football News)
In Manuel Diaz’s absence, Renedy Singh took over as interim head coach. This is a homecoming for Rivera. He was the assistant under former East Bengal coach Alejandro Menéndez for 32 games in the 2018-19 season before he was asked to take over the reins.
Upon taking over back then, the Spaniard did a wonderful job guiding the Red and Golds to a second-place finish in the I-League two seasons back. Rivera, a UEFA Pro Licence holder, took just seven games to pull East Bengal from the bottom half of the table to the top three.
“We are happy to appoint him as our head coach. Mario has been part of East Bengal previously and his experience in Indian football will be beneficial to the team for the rest of the season,” said East Bengal CEO Col. Shivaji Samaddar in a statement.
Rivera will undergo the mandatory quarantine period as per ISL and will take over thereafter. East Bengal will take on Bengaluru FC at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim on Tuesday. East Bengal are at the bottom of the ISL 2021-22 table having lost four and drawn four games so far.
