Chencho Dorji (born 1 January 1980 in Mongar) is a Bhutanese football manager,[1][2] who currently serves as the head coach of the Indian club Sudeva Delhi FC in the I-League 2.[3][4] Besides Bhutan, he has managed in India.[5][6][7][8]

Chencho Dorji
Personal information
Date of birth (1980-01-01) 1 January 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth Mongar, Bhutan
Team information
Current team
Sudeva Delhi (head coach)
Managerial career
Years Team
2007–2018 Bhutan U-17
2019–2020 F.C. Imphal City
2020–2021 Sudeva Delhi
2023– Sudeva Delhi

Managerial career edit

Dorji completed his C-License coaching course in 2005 when he was still just 25. In the 12 years that he worked with the Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) after that, he enrolled in every programme that he came across, just to learn more about the game. Such was his hunger for footballing knowledge that upon finishing all of BFF’s courses, he went to Japan and completed all the coaching courses from there as well. Football in Bhutan benefited from it as he served a number of different age-group teams over the years besides playing an important role in setting up their grassroots system.[9]

Dorji had earlier worked as the head coach of the Bhutan youth national teams and he was always wanting to move to Indian I-League. "The I-League is one of the biggest leagues in South Asia and it has teams that have been playing at such a high level for many years. We have been preparing well and no team should take us lightly. We can certainly come up with surprise results," Dorji said about his move to Sudeva.[10]

Bracing up for their maiden I-League appearance, Sudeva Delhi FC appointed Dorji as the team's head coach ahead of the upcoming season. I-League's newest entrant is the first team from national capital New Delhi.

"It is a great honour to be part of the I-League. I really thank the president and the vice-president for believing in me and deciding to give the huge responsibility. lf you do well, you will survive and I am very excited about this challenge. As with every head coach, I also want to win. l want to win all the matches, but that does not happen in football."

Chencho Dorji, after becoming the manager of Sudeva Delhi FC.[11]

Dorji is the first Bhutanese coach at the helm of any club in the history of the I-League.[citation needed] He joined Sudeva's academy in November 2019 and is now the chief tactician of the senior team. Dorji has previously worked at the Bhutan Football Federation for 12 years.[citation needed]

The first club from the national capital to play in the I-League, Sudeva Delhi FC have opted for an all-Indian squad in their first season and the concept was came from Dorji's mind. He said that "The message was always clear that we will go with an all-Indian squad."[12]

Dorji later became head coach of Sudeva Delhi again in 2023, and guided the team in I-League 2.[13]

Statistics edit

Managerial statistics edit

As of 26 January 2021.
Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Sudeva Delhi 22 September 2020 31 May 2022 14 5 3 6 035.71
Total 14 5 3 6 035.71

References edit

  1. ^ "Belief" - Chencho Dorji Archived 5 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine note.com
  2. ^ Chencho Dorji, Bhutan’s lone international football coach looks beyond horizon Archived 22 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine kuenselonline.com
  3. ^ Sudeva FC appoints Chencho Dorji as head coach. Archived 22 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Sportstar.theHindu.com. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Playing in an all-Indian squad is a great opportunity, feels Sudeva Delhi FC forward Manvir Singh". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Kolkata: The Times of India. ANI. 27 December 2020. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Interview with Chencho Dorji". newsclick.in. Archived from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  6. ^ "No team should take us lightly, declares Sudeva Head Coach Chencho Dorji". I-league.org. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  7. ^ "HEAD COACH CHENCHO DORJI KNOWS WHERE THE BUCK STOPS". Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Chencho Dorji becomes the first Bhutanese coach to manage an I-League Club". bbs.bt. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Meet the first Bhutanese to coach in India — Chencho Dorji". TheBridge.in. Archived from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Sudeva FC's Bhutanese coach Chencho Dorji says it was his idea to have an all-Indian team". New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Sudeva FC appoint Chencho Dorji as head coach". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  12. ^ "I-League: Chencho Dorji's Sudeva Delhi FC aim to make impact in debut season". First Post. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  13. ^ "I-League 2 — United Sports Club 0–1 Sudeva Delhi FC (26 January 2024)". the-aiff.com. Kalyani: All India Football Federation. 26 January 2024. Archived from the original on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.

External links edit