Mikael Stahre - A new ray of hope

Mikael Lennart Tage Stahre or in short Mikael Stahre hails from Stockholm, Sweden. A football passionate through and through, Stahre started his managerial career at the tender age of 14 due to his injury concerns which halted his playing career. The 49 year old Swedish coach has immense experience in coaching first-teams across different continents and which spans over more than 20 years. 

His first-team coaching career started with Swedish third tier team AFC Eskilstuna, then Vasby United in 2005. Under his realm, Vasby United secured promotion to the second tier of the Swedish League. Later in 2008, he joined Swedish first tier team AIK. He led them to the league title and Swedish cup in 2009 and Swedish Super Cup in 2010. His other notable achievement is leading IFK Goteborg to the Swedish cup in the 2012-13 season. Apart from these teams, Stahre has managed Panionios of Greece, Sarpsborg 08 FF of Norway and he also has experience of coaching in Asia as he joined Thailand's first division team Uthai Thani in 2023. He won Coach of the month in October 2023 for his work with Uthai Thani.

Stahre's nature of the game is always attacking based. Center midfielders have a pivotal role in his system, acting as the channel to move the ball forward and dictating the play. Another notable feature is the defensive resilience of his teams. Mikael's managerial career at various youth-level teams denotes his ability to find and nurture young talents, which is a trend expected to continue in KBFC. 

The club and its fans are desperate for a trophy and Mikael's arrival to the helm of Kerala Blasters has raised the expectations. As a new ISL season is about to commence, the coach and his team along with the fans are hoping to create a new path for the Yellow army.

~Navya Chirakkal