Staff Reporter
Panaji
Former Dempo coach Armando Colaco will be conferred with the Dronacharya Award in the Lifetime Category, the highest recognition for coaches in the country. A stalwart of Indian football, Colaco led Dempo SC to an unprecedented five I-League titles, cementing his legacy as one of the finest coaches in Indian football history. With this honor, he becomes the first Goan to receive the prestigious award.
He also coached the India National team and is currently the head coach of Sporting Clube.
“I’m on cloud nine. I’m very happy that finally my hard work has paid off. But this is all due to, you know, the initial platform given by Albert Colaco, Agnel Mascarenhas, and Salcete FC. And then later on Baba (Shrinivas Dempo) stabilized it, giving the freedom to express in coaching,” Colaco said, reflecting on his journey.
He will be conferred with the award by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17.
He further credited the support he received throughout his career: “And that’s how I landed with Churchill Alemao and Joe Vaz, Sesa Goa, FC Bardez, and now Sporting Clube de Goa. And all this is more because of my players, senior players in Dempo’s, my coaching staff supported me. That is Mauricio Almeida, Sabrino Gonsalves, Custodio Almeida, Mahesh Lotlikar, Climax Lawrence now.” Colaco also expressed his gratitude for the support he received from the football community: “So these are the people who supported and encouraged me and they followed my path, which, you know, helped me. I cannot forget the owners, the managers, the officials, all the people who were there with me. This is also sort of an inspiration to the young, promising coaches like Clifford Miranda, Samir Naik, Mahesh Gawli, Climax Lawrence that if I can achieve, I wish them another five, ten, fifteen, twenty years. They also have to achieve.”
Armando Colaco continues to prove his mettle. Last season, he guided Sporting Clube de Goa to the Goa Pro League title and followed it up by clinching the I-League 3 championship, securing promotion to I-League 2.
