After Chencho Dorji, the current head coach of Sudeva FC in India, Ugyen Dorji has now become the second Bhutanese coach to be hired by an international football academy. He was appointed as the new head coach for U-18 and Delhi senior division team of Sudeva FC recently.
Sudeva Football Club is a professional Indian Football Club based in Delhi which was handed a spot in the I-League by the All India Football Federation recently.
Serving the Bhutan Football Federation for about 15 years as a national player and a coach, 40-year-old Ugyen Dorji from Dagana will now join the head coach Chencho Dorji to manage a football club outside Bhutan.
“It has been around 15 years working under Bhutan Football Federation. I joined the BFF as a national player. I started my coaching career by serving as a football coach and a football focal person in Samtse Dzongkhag. After that, I was appointed as the women’s coach in the Gelegphu Women’s Football Academy 2014. After three years, I came here and since then I have been training and working with the academy boys here in Thimphu,” said Ugyen Dorji.
Ugyen shared that managing a professional football club has always been his dream and considers these as a stepping stone in his football career.
“The current head coach of Sudeva FC is a good friend of mine and he informed me of the post. Accordingly, I shared my interest as it has always been a dream for me to work for a professional club outside Bhutan,” he added.
Despite the achievement, he confessed leaving behind his family and especially his players has not been an easy decision to make:
“As soon as I received the appointment letter from Sudeva FC, I had to think about it for a long time. For a month, I was not sure whether to go or not. However, I feel it is an asset for a country like ours for getting the opportunity to work as a coach outside Bhutan. We can learn many things by working outside and this will benefit our country. Moreover, this will help open doors to many Bhutanese coaches who aspire to work outside for international clubs.”
Ugyen was supposed to leave for Delhi a few months before but couldn’t travel due to the COVID-19 situation. For now, Ugyen Dorji has signed a one-year contract with the club and he will leave the country next month.
Passang Dorji
