Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Chencho Nio | ||
Date of birth | 2 October 1985 | ||
Place of birth | Thimphu, Bhutan | ||
Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) [1] | ||
Position(s) | Forward | ||
Youth career | |||
2002–2003 | Druk Star | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2004–2010 | Yeedzin | ||
2010–2012 | Royal Wahingdoh | 38 | (16) |
2012–2013 | Luangmal | 6 | (2) |
2015–2019 | Thimphu City FC | ||
2020 | Paro FC | 25 | (6) |
2021 | High Quality United | 17 | (8) |
International career‡ | |||
2009–2019 | Bhutan | 35 | (1) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 June 2019 |
Chencho Nio (born 2 October 1985 [1] ) is a Bhutanese international footballer, who last played for High Quality United in the Bhutan Premier League. He has experience playing in the I-League 2nd Division, the second tier of football in India. [2] Having played in Bhutan for a number of years, he became the first Bhutanese player to become a full-time player when he moved to Royal Wahingdoh in 2010. [3] He made his first appearance for the Bhutan national football team in 2009. [1]
Chencho began his playing career at the age of seventeen for Druk Star in the Bhutan A-Division in 2002. [1] Druk Star had two mediocre seasons while Chencho was playing for them finishing fifth in 2003 [4] following an unknown placing the previous season. [5]
He moved to Yeedzin in 2004. [1] In his first four seasons with Yeedzin, the club was very much a mid table team during a period in which Transport United dominated domestic football in Bhutan. in 2008 Yeedzin produced their best performance to that point and Chencho was part of the team that won both the league and cup. [6] They finished the league season unbeaten, four points ahead of runners-up Transport United, dropping points in only two games, including a 1–1 draw with Choden FC, the Bhutan U-19 team [6] whilst also beating Rigzung 20–0 in the second half of the season. [6] They won the 2008 A-Division Knock-Out Tournament, beating Royal Bhutan Army 4–3 in the final. [6]
The following season, despite scoring more goals than any other team and more than the bottom half of the table managed combined [7] and with scorelines of 10–2, 20–0 and 16–1 against Rigzung and Druk Athletic twice respectively, [7] they were unable to retain their league title in the 2009 season, losing three games throughout the course of the season and finishing five points behind Druk Star, who ended the season unbeaten. [7] They were equally unfortunate in the Club Cup Championship. Despite beating Nangpa 12–0 in the quarter-finals and Choden 4–1 in the semi-finals, they lost 0–1 to Druk Star in the final as the mirrored what Yeedzin had achieved the previous season. [7]
2009 was also the first season that Yeedzin represented Bhutan in continental competition, their victory in the previous season's league competition meaning that they were awarded Bhutan's berth in the 2009 AFC President's Cup. They were drawn in Group C for the Group Stage, along with Dordoi-Dynamo Naryn of Kyrgyzstan, Kanbawza of Burma and Phnom Penh Crown of Cambodia. They travelled to Bishkek, where all the group games were played, but were beaten in all three games, conceding fourteen goals and scoring only three and did not progress.
Yeedzin bounced straight back the following season with another unbeaten season, finishing nine points clear of Druk Pol to give Chencho his second championship, [8] dropping points only once; in a 0–0 draw against Druk Pol. [8]
Following his performances both domestically and in continental football, Chencho earned himself a move to Royal Wahingdoh in the Indian I-League 2nd Division. [3] In doing so, he became the first Bhutanese player to be able to call himself a full-time professional player, signing a contract worth Nu 1,000,000 per season. [3] In his first season, his new club finished unbeaten in their group, but were unable to finish in the top two in the final stage and so remained in the second division. The following season, Chencho moved to Luangmual, also in the I-League Second Division. [1]
Chencho has been capped ten times for the Bhutan national football team, [1] most recently he took part in the 2013 SAFF Championship, playing in two of Bhutan's three group games; the 2–8 loss to the Maldives [9] and the 0–3 loss to Afghanistan. [10]
Prior to his move to Royal Wahingdoh, Chencho juggled football with his job at a private company in Bhutan. [3] While playing for Royal Wahingdoh, he studied for an MBA. [3] He is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur and his favourite player is Wayne Rooney. [3]
Royal Wahingdoh
The 2005 season of the Bhutanese A-Division was the eleventh recorded season of top-flight football in Bhutan. The league was won by Transport United, their second title in a row. As a result, they qualified as Bhutan's representatives in the 2006 AFC President's Cup.
The 2008 season of the Bhutanese A-Division was the fourteenth recorded season of top-flight football in Bhutan. The league was won by Yeedzin FC, their first ever title, and the first time a team other than Transport United had won the league in five years. Yeedzin qualified as Bhutan's representative in the 2009 AFC President's Cup.
Yeedzin Football Club was a football club from Thimphu, Bhutan. Founded in 2002, they were promoted from the B-Division to the A-Division in the same year. They won their first A-Division title in 2008 and have won a total of four A-Division championships. They also qualified for the National League in 2012 and 2013, winning the inaugural national competition in 2012. They have been Bhutan's representative in the AFC President's Cup on four occasions, and lost all of their twelve games played in the competition with a goal difference of –75.
The 2009 season of the Bhutanese A-Division was the fifteenth recorded season of top-flight football in Bhutan. The league was won by Druk Star FC, their second title. They qualified as Bhutan's representatives in the 2010 AFC President's Cup.
Druk Stars FC, sometimes referred to as Druk Star FC, was a Bhutanese football club from Thimphu. The team have won the national championship twice and competed in the A-Division from 2002, when they won their first title, through to 2010, having won a second title in 2009. They were absent from the A-Division in 2011, but played and won the 2012 B-Division. Returning to the top flight, they qualified for the National League for the first time in 2014. In addition to their two A-Division and one B-Division title, they have also represented Bhutan in the AFC President's Cup in 2010.
Drukpol FC, sometimes referred to as Druk Pol FC, was a football club from Thimphu, Bhutan. Until 1996, the team was called Royal Bhutan Police FC. Drukpol FC has won the A-Division championship a record eight times, more than any other team in Bhutan. The team's home ground was Changlimithang Stadium.
The 2010 season of the Bhutanese A-Division was the sixteenth recorded season of top-flight football in Bhutan. The league was won by Yeedzin, their second title.
Football is a sport with a comparatively brief history in Bhutan, having had an initial period of favour in the mid-twentieth century, when it was first introduced to the country by visiting teachers from India and Europe. It has only achieved significantly renewed popularity in the early 2000s, following the advent of satellite television broadcasting, with historically national sport being archery. Consequently, the domestic game was underdeveloped. After the establishment of an initial league in the late 1980s, little in the way of recorded competition took place until the mid-1990s when a formal championship, the A-Division, was created. Football became the most popular sport in Bhutan.
Thimphu City FC is a Bhutanese professional football club based in Thimphu that competes in the Bhutan Premier League, the top level of football in Bhutan. Founded in 2012, they qualified for the inaugural Bhutan National League in the same year. Formerly known as Zimdra FC, the club was refounded as Thimphu City FC in 2012 and again qualified for the 2013 Bhutan National League, finishing second behind eventual winners Yeedzin. They have won the Thimphu League and the first National League title in 2016. They also have a futsal section.
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