While Eriksson was never in the race, Domenech, Allardyce and Micale were too expensive. The AIFF has always been clear that they are not willing to pay more than $25,000 per month to the national coach, which includes income tax expenses.

Therefore, deciding to cut their coat according to cloth, the AIFF mandarins pruned the list to four names – Stimac, Hakan Ericson of Sweden, South Korea's Lee Min-sung and former Bengaluru FC manager Albert Roca of Spain – to be interviewed by the committee headed by Shyam Thapa.

Although all four individuals have limited coaching experience with any senior national team, it is the 51-year old Stimac who finds himself ahead in the race due to several reasons, primary being the monetary part.

"Stimac fits into the federation's budgetary allocations. Roca's name has been there from the beginning but his salary expectations are too high," a source told IANS.

"If there's isn't something out of the way happening during the interviews, Stimac will be the next India coach," he stated.

AIFF officials are also impressed with the fact that Stimac played a big role as the national coach in taking Croatia to the 2014 World Cup finals.