In winless year for football, Dronacharya Award for Armando Colaco

PANAJI: Armando Colaco got the Dronacharya Award when he least expected it. Among Indian football’s most successful coaches, Colaco, had been applying for the highest recognition for coaches in India, for several years now.

“I am on cloud nine, can’t express my joy in words,” the veteran coach told TOI after Colaco was among the two awardees in the lifetime category, on Thursday.

“This is the reward for all that I have done in football. I’ve applied several times before, felt disappointed when my name was not there (in the list), but I knew someday I would get rewarded.”

Currently coaching Sporting Clube de Goa, Armando, 72, is the first Goan to receive the award.

He wins the award in a year when Indian football had its worst run, remaining winless in 2024. It was also a year where AIFF sacked its head coach Igor Stimac and handed Manolo Marquez a dual club-and-country role.

Colaco won a record five NFL/I-League titles with Dempo SC, his team playing a possession-based style when it was rare in Indian football.