Dempo FC coach, Armando Colaco has been nominated by the All India Football Federation(AIFF) for the prestigious Dronacharya award, the highest honour for a coach in the country.
Armando has been India's most successful football coach at the club level for almost a decade. But the AIFF did not nominate him for the Dronacharya award due to a stipulation that the aspirants should have coached the National team.
The moment Colaco got the National job last month, the AIFF did not hesitate in recommending the Dempo Sports Club coach for the highest coaching honour in India, an AIFF official said.
"We could not look at anyone beyond Armando for the award," he said.
Since former India coach Syed Nayeemuddin collected the award in 1992, no football coach has won the honour.
Meanwhile, former India captain and at one time India's leading scorer, Shabir Ali, has been nominated for the Dhyanchand lifetime achievement award while I M Vijayan, Baichung Bhutia, Jo Paul Ancheri, Sunil Chhetri, Deepak Mondal, Subrata Paul and Shanmugham Venkatesh have been nominated for Arjun award.