New Delhi, Jul 19 (IANS): The All India Football Federation (AIFF) extended the contract of senior national football team's Croatian coach Igor Stimac by one year at its technical committee meeting on Monday.

The chairman of the technical committee Shyam Thapa also asked Stimac to come up with a "detailed long-term plan" to take Indian football forward.

The AIFF said in a statement on Monday that, "The (technical) committee deliberated at length, and reached a consensus that in view of the external factors which has had a huge impact on the footballing world in general, and with the national team all set to begin their campaign in their quest to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023, head coach Igor Stimac be given an extension of his contract till September 2022. The AFC Asian Cup qualifiers will be played from February 2022 to September 2022."

Stimac has been on contract as head coach since May 2019.

Earlier in May this year, the AIFF had extended Stimac's contract by six months, till September 2021.