Marc Gamon Gil (1993) from Martorell has been the goalkeeper coach of the Indian national football team since this summer. Barcelona coach Manolo Márquez, who was appointed coach in July, trusted Gamon to be part of his staff in this new experience. The Martorelle has reunited with Marquez after their time together at Hyderabad FC, when they were crowned Indian Super League champions.
After a career in Catalan football, in teams such as CF Martorell or CE Europa, Marc Gamon began adventures in Hong Kong (KC Southern District FC), in India (Hyderabad) and Belgium (KMSK Deinze) before take this very important step in his career as a goalkeeper coach. In recent weeks he has been concentrating with the Indian team, which is preparing for the 2025 Asia Cup.
Marc, this summer you became the new goalkeeper coach of the Indian national football team. How did this opportunity come to you?
I was in Barcelona and I have kept in touch with the coach, Manolo Marquez, since we worked together at Hyderabad FC two years ago, and we have been talking and seeing each other. It was in the national team’s plans to find a coach and he was very well placed. This option could be given and, from the first moment, Manolo started to tell me if it was feasible for me to join him again.
I imagine that when that call came to you it was an immense joy for you. how did you feel
We stayed for lunch and while talking he told me. These are opportunities that are very nice to have and to experience and the truth is that I was very excited from the first moment.
Do you consider that taking this important step consolidates your career as a goalkeeper coach?
It is clear that it is a further step, a new experience. Yes, it gives me another range of possibilities, such as working with international teams, which is the first time I have had this opportunity. So yes, it completes me as a goalkeeper coach.
What importance do you give to the figure of Manolo Márquez? A person with a lot of experience in the world of football.
First of all, he is a great person and also a good coach, with whom I am happy to have worked and continue to work. One of the things I learned early on was how demanding he was. He is a very demanding person and since I started working with him at Hyderabad FC, I realized that I had to put in the effort. He came from a much higher level than me and the demand on him was maximum. I think the big change I’ve made with him has been to demand the most of myself, to want to learn more, to want to do more and to never be satisfied. You can always improve and the truth is that one of the biggest things I take away from having worked with him is this.
Right now, you are focused on the Indian team that you are preparing for the 2025 Asia Cup qualifiers, right?
That’s right. Now we are playing some friendly matches, where you play for FIFA ranking points and, for March, we have a pre-qualification for next year’s Asia Cup. So that’s our goal right now.
From the coaching staff of the Indian national team, have you set any specific goals for yourself?
Yes, the goal is clear: to qualify for Asia Cup 2025. Everyone is waiting for India to qualify and it is not an easy thing, but we have to achieve it. We have it in mind, we are aware of the challenge and the main goal is this classification.
Now that you are at a rally, could you explain what your day-to-day life is like with the Indian team?
When they ask me, I always say that the difference between being in a club or in a national team is that in a club you have time to go to work and to dedicate yourself, but in a national team you don’t have as much time. You have to be very specific and it’s very intense. Here, we get up, we go to breakfast and, when we finish, we are meeting the coaching staff to prepare the training and to talk about what we are doing. After the meeting, we may have an hour left and I use it to analyze the opponent, such as penalties or finishes. After lunch, we have three or four hours to rest, but I also use them to work and continue analyzing. It is time, perhaps, to prepare videos and analyzes for the goalkeepers. And in the afternoon, around 5:00 p.m., we already have a meeting with the players and at 6:00 p.m. we are training. We return at 20.00 and, as we arrive, we have dinner. And so day after day, very intense.
And how do you see the current level of goalkeepers in India?
It is not comparable with the level of goalkeepers in Europe, which is the highest level. European goalkeepers have had very high level coaches since they were young children and a specialization in goal from a very young age. Therefore, the goalkeeper who reaches the elite has a very high standard in every way. India’s goalkeepers are of a good standard, but they don’t have a technical base and then everything comes a bit later. When they reach the highest level, you find that most goalkeeping coaches in the league are foreigners, mainly Spanish. But it’s complicated because you meet goalkeepers who don’t have a technical, tactical or physical base. Little by little and with the help of Spanish and European goalkeeper coaches, who have more knowledge, I think they are developing.
With a degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences from the INEFC in Barcelona, you began training as a player and coach in Martorell. How much importance do you attach to your time at the Martorelle club?
All stages are important. When I was at CF Martorell, as a player, it was already my home. I started training from a young age, at 16 or 17 years old, and those were my first steps, my first learning. It’s where you experiment, make mistakes and learn how to do things. As I loved to train, thanks to having fun, learning and having the opportunity to train Martorell, so little by little I was training. Afterwards, I returned with Íñigo Irisarri, to Tercera Catalana, and came as goalkeeper coach, where we did a very professional job. We had a very nice coaching staff and it was a good stage, because the level of players was good for the category and the goalkeepers were very nice. In the end, you’re young, you’re experimenting, you’re trying things and being at home makes everything easier when it comes to adapting. All in all, all the steps I’ve taken so far are important.
And soon the opportunity came for you to take a step forward in your career as a goalkeeper coach and the CE Europa, of the Third Division, opened the doors to a great future for you, right?
That’s right. While at CF Martorell, I received the offer from Europe and I had to get on this train. I was doing several things: I was training in Martorell, while I was training in Europe and I was also at EF Olesa. My time at CE Europe was two and a half incredible years, with very good experiences. He was already practically playing professional football and the level was much higher. It’s probably been the biggest change I’ve taken with me and the one that’s helped me the most in working towards preparing to go abroad, which was my next step.
You started your time abroad in Hong Kong (China), where you stayed for two seasons, then you went to India and now you have spent two years in Belgium, in the Second Division. How have these six years been training away from home?
First of all, I left for Hong Kong. I would tell you that every time you go to a different country, there is a major cultural change, and when you go to the other side of the world you have to adapt as much as possible. There is a big difference in the way of working: there the individual game is trained more, while in Spain the level is prepared collectively, more tactically. In Hong Kong I had a very good experience and I was delighted with the porters I had. It’s an amazing country. I had a lot of free time and I took advantage of it to have a lot of life. We had the best season in the club’s history, finished third in the league and the goalkeeper ended up in the Hong Kong national team.
Then I went to India, where I had a great time. The first year we had a good season in a club that was brand new and didn’t have a good track record. In the second year we were lucky and lucky to become champions. I had a great relationship with the goalkeepers, we connected very well. Indians are very grateful people, they give everything and made my day to day grateful. We worked in a great way, we were lucky to form a great team and we ended up champions. I think it was a movie story.
Finally, I had the opportunity to go to Belgium and it was a leap to work in European football, in the Second Division. Despite returning to Europe, very close to home, in the cultural field it was the change that surprised me the most. The players I had had so far were very dedicated and very appreciative players. And in European football, even though the players are professionals who dedicate themselves to this in a very conscious way, I had to train the players’ egos. But I also had a good relationship with the goalkeepers and everything went very well. He had a very nice group of goalkeepers, very hardworking.
The first year we got off to a bad start and they fired the coach, unfortunately, and he switched to a new sports project. In the second year, we did have a very good season and were on the verge of promotion to the First Division. Belgium is a very quiet country, which depends a lot on the climate. People are cold in relationships and therefore it is more complicated to reach people. When you work with people you like to have that emotional connection, and there, maybe it was the place where I connected differently with people, but it was another learning.
My demands have been increasing and in Belgium I have had some tools and material that I have used to develop myself much better. Thanks to these two years, I do a much more complete job and I am much more aware of the things I need to work on and how to take advantage and plan the training.
Do you ever see yourself returning home to continue your career as a goalie coach?
yes I love to travel, it’s one of my hobbies, and football is my passion. But at the end of the day I’ve been away for six years and I also enjoy being with my family, partner and friends. And when you work abroad you lose a bit of all that. One hundred percent I will be training at home again soon. I don’t know what can happen or how I will do it, but it is a dream for me to dedicate myself professionally to elite football in Spain or Catalonia. I hope that the opportunity will arise one day, but I am sure that I will work in Spain, Barcelona or Catalonia. We’ll see.
Source: martorelldigital.cat
