Manolo, Ogbeche and Mishra bag prizes after historical season

Kolkata: Hyderabad FC’s stars were dominant in the yearly Indian Football Awards held by Football Players Association of India (FPAI), winning three awards in the event held at Kolkata on Wednesday.

The season which saw Hyderabad FC finish as the Indian Super League Champions, also saw Manolo Marquez’s men finish second in the league stage and were not too far away from the top spot.

 

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This terrific and dominant performance meant Spanish coach Manolo Marquez was named the ‘Coach of the Year’ for his contribution to Indian football.

Under Manolo, Hyderabad lost just four games in the league last season, in what was a record-breaking season in more ways than one. The boys in Yellow and Black netted the most goals throughout the ISL campaign.

Former Nigerian international Bartholomew Ogbeche also had a role to play in the glory as he scored 18 goals in the season, winning the Golden Boot in the Indian Super League. Ogbeche is also currently the top goal-scorer in the competition’s history and unsurprisingly, he was named the ‘Foreign Player of the Year’ award at the Indian Football Awards.

Full-back Akash Mishra, who burst into the scene in the 2020-21 campaign, was also on the winning side at the event as he was named the ‘Young Player of the Year’.

 

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The 20-year-old is one of the first names on the team sheet for Manolo Marquez. He played more minutes than any other player for Hyderabad last season and registered two goals and three assists and was one of the best players in the competition. He also played all three games for India in their recently concluded AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers helping the Blue Tigers to three successive wins.

Former Hyderabad FC star and current ATK Mohun Bagan winger Liston Colaco was named the ‘Indian Player of the Year’ after his impressive performance for the Mariners as HFC dominated the awards for the first time in their history.