Bruno Coutinho (born 6 October 1969) is an Indian football player from Goa, and winner of the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

in 2001, a national Indian award for excellence in sport.

Former Indian captain

Coutinho studied in Monte De Guirim, who was recognized by coach Paul Raj, he played his 1st game against school rivals ST.Pilar, having scored 3 goals and winning Subroto Mukerjee Cup Football tournament u17. Coutinho has also been a former Indian football captain. His much-watched career has spanned nearly a decade-and-half. He first played for India at a school tournament at Brunei in 1987. Joining the prominent Goan team

Dempo SC Dempo Sports Club, or simply known as Dempo, is an Indian professional football club based in Panjim, Goa, that competes in the Goa Professional League. The club is owned and sponsored by the Dempo Mining Corporation Limited. Popularly known a ...

in 1988, he moved to another prominent mining-linked Salgaocar team in 1987.

Diminutive striker

Coutinho has been called a "diminutive striker". His international debut came in 1989–90, and his last match for India was in the Millennium Cup in 2001. Bruno is credited with helping Salgaocar win the Federation Cup in 1987, the Rovers Cup in 1989 and 1996, the Taca Goa in 1989 and the 1998

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

in India.

Representing, leading India

Among Coutinho's other achievements are representing India in the President's Cup in 1989 in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

, heading the Indian Under-23 team for the 1991 pre-

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, for the SAF Games in 1995 and 1996 and the

Asia Cup The Asian Cricket Council Asia Cup is a men's One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket tournament. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countrie ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. Coutinho was the

All India Football Federation The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the national governing body of football in India. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of football and affiliated to Asian Football Confederation. It is affiliated to Ministry ...

player of the year when he played for Salgaocar Sports Club of Goa in the year 1996.

Transfers

In August 2002 it was reported that Coutinho was transferring from his traditional Salgaocar Sports Club to the

Vasco Sports Club Vasco may refer to: * Basque language, called ''vasco'' in Spanish * ''Vasco'' (album), a two-part EP by Ricardo Villalobos * Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer * Vasco da Gama, Goa, a city in India, often called simply Vasco * Club de Regatas Va ...

. Both clubs are located in Goa. In 2003 he became a coach.

Personal life

He is married and has two children, and also a brother (Jeronimo Coutinho) who runs a sports bar in Goa called J29.

Honours

India *

SAFF Championship The South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly known as SAFF Championship (previously known as ''South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup'' and ''South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup''), is the main international ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

; runner-up:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic ...

Gold medal:

; Bronze medal:

Salgaocar * Federation Cup:

Individual * AIFF Player of the Year: 1996 *

: 2001

References

External links

End of road for Bruno Coutinho?Bruno AIFF award winner in 2002
Living people 1969 births India international footballers Indian footballers Indian Roman Catholics Recipients of the Arjuna Award Footballers from Goa Association football forwards Salgaocar FC players Dempo SC players South Asian Games medalists in football South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games bronze medalists for India {{India-footy-bio-stub