CARLOS PENA

Carlos Pena is the current head coach of the First Team at FC Goa. His association with the club however began in 2018 when he signed for the club as one of the players in their foreign contingent.

He arrived on Goan shores bringing along with him nearly two decades of experience of playing across the top divisions of the league system in his home country. The Spanish international came through the ranks at FC Barcelona, representing their C and B teams before moving to play for Albacete Balompie. He went on to represent Recreativo de Huelva, Real Valladolid, Real Oviedo, Getafe, and Lorca FC before being roped in by the Gaurs.

At the international stage, Pena won the UEFA European U-19 Championship in 2002 and finished runners-up at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2003, both with the Spanish national team.

In his first season with FC Goa, the 39-year-old helped the Club reach the ISL final before leading them to their first silverware in the 2019 Super Cup. The Spaniard helped the Gaurs script history in his last season as an FC Goa player in 2019-20 when they became the first Indian team to lift the ISL League Winners’ Shield and qualify for the group stages of the AFC Champions League.

Overall, Pena amassed 43 senior appearances for FC Goa as a player across two seasons, before hanging up his boots in 2020.

Following his retirement, the Spaniard started off his coaching career with the youth team of Lorca FC. He went on to acquire his UEFA Pro License, while also donning the role of a tactician at UCAM Murcia and Lleida Esportiu.

The former Barcelona man took over the reins of the Albacete Balompie youth team at the beginning of last season, plotting their campaign in the Juvenil League. Under him, Albacete had a season to remember as they scored more goals that season than any other in the past 20 years.

On April 16, 2022, he joined FC Goa as their First Team head coach and is currently leading the Club’s charge in the ongoing Indian Super League 2022-23 league season.

In a brief conversation with ItsGoa, Carlos shared his thoughts on his experience as coach of FC Goa, the performance of his team this season, things about Goa that he admires the most, and lots more…

Excerpts

How has your experience been as coach of FC Goa so far?

Working with FC Goa has been a wonderful learning experience. I came to Goa this year without prior experience in coaching senior teams, and while the basics are similar at all levels, I still learn new things every day with this team.

I’m very happy with the team I have as well, and they make my job easier. My players are very hardworking and open to learning, and my colleagues in the coaching staff help me manage the team well. Our performances and results also reflect the work that’s going on behind the scenes, and I hope to make more good memories with the Club in the coming months.

How has the season been so far for FC Goa? Due to several difficult circumstances, the Club had an underwhelming season last time, after which several changes were made to the squad. As many as seven new signings were made and the coaching staff, including myself, is also new to the team.

It was hence important that we start this season well and set a tone for the rebuild, which is exactly what we did by winning three of our first four games. After 11 games, we had 19 points - the same number of points that the team managed during the entirety of last season.

We’ve now played 13 games and are in the top six. With seven games remaining, we’re on track to qualify for the playoffs.

Overall, I feel our performances this season have been satisfactory. There’s surely room for improvement, however, which is why we’re training every day. We want to become better at our game, perform better in our remaining matches and finish as high up the table as possible.