Chencho Dorji from Monggar who served as a national coach for 12 years with the Bhutan Football Federation will become the first Bhutanese coach to manage an I-League Club as he was announced as the new Head Coach of Sudeva FC on Saturday. The 38-year-old is also the first Bhutanese coach to be hired by an international football academy in March last year.
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. I-League, formerly known as National Football League, is the joint premier football league in India along with Indian Super League.
Joining the Sudeva Residential Football Academy in New Delhi in November last year, he will now lead the debutant team Sudeva FC as their new head coach in the upcoming I-League 2020-21.
“Well, it is a great honour to be part of I-League. I really thank the President and the Vice President for believing in me and deciding to give the huge responsibility. If you do well you will survive and I am very excited and optimistic about this challenge,” he said.
Like any other coaches, Chencho Dorji wants to win every game and looks forward to finishing their first season of the competition with good results.
“As every head coach, I also want to win. I want to win all the matches but that does not happen in football. Sometimes we lose the match even after playing a good game. We must be ready to handle such a situation wisely. This is our first season and we want to be in the best position in a table at the end of the season,” he added.
The I-League 2020-21 will be the 14th edition with 11 professional football clubs across the country taking part in the competition this time. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the matches will be played in Kolkata from November onwards.
Prior to his current appointment, he also served as the youth coach for Manipur-based FC Imphal City. And while in Bhutan, besides coaching senior players, he also coached the junior teams for various international platforms as well.
Passang Dorji
