Shillong, Jun 23: One of the most well known football coaches from the North East – Gift Raikhan – died yesterday in Imphal. He was 45.
Raikhan played for many clubs, such as Churchill Brothers and Pune FC, before becoming a coach. He was most closely associated with NEROCA, the first Manipur-based club to reach the I-League (now Indian Football League).
With NEROCA he won the Second Division League (I-League 2) in 2016-17 and the team then finished second in the I-League 2017-18; this was the best result of any North East club on their debut in the competition. Raikhan won the Syed Abdul Rahim Award as the I-League’s Best Coach that season.
Raikhan then moved to Aizawl FC for 2018-19 but left midway through after a run of poor form.
He would later return to NEROCA but the best days of the club were behind them by that point. He also had a stint in Gokulam Kerala as technical director and was coach of the Manipur state team.
Both NEROCA and Aizawl paid tribute to their fallen former coach. So did the All India Football Federation, Chief Minister and former CM of Manipur and others in the sporting fraternity.
(TSR file photo)
