Englishman Constantine returns as India's head coach

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Stephen Constantine is returning to coach India after the country's football federation confirmed on Friday that the Englishman had agreed to a second stint with the national team.

The 52-year-old Constantine coached India from 2002-05 and was most recently head coach of Rwanda.

In 2002, India won a six-nation tournament in Vietnam under Constantine, who took the tiny African republic to their highest-ever world ranking of 68 last month and has also coached the national teams of Nepal and Sudan.

Constantine would also be in charge of India's under-23 team and was expected to officially start work from the first week of February, the All India Football Federation said in a statement.

The India coaching position became vacant towards the end of 2014 after Dutchman Wim Koevermans opted against renewing his contract following a string of poor results.

The country of more than one billion people, regarded as one of soccer's sleeping giants, are currently languishing at their lowest-ever FIFA ranking of 171.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by John O'Brien)