Chencho Nio (born 2 October 1985) is a

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

ese

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, who last played for High Quality United in the

Bhutan Premier League The Bhutan Premier League, currently known as the Bank of Bhutan Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the men's highest division of professional football in Bhutan. It also provides Bhutan's entrant for continental competition, the AFC ...

. He has experience playing in the

I-League 2nd Division The I-League 2 is an Indian men's professional association football, football league. It is the 3rd tier of the Indian football league system, behind the Indian Super League and the I-League. It operates as a system of promotion and relegation ...

, the second tier of football in India. 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. He made his first appearance for the

Bhutan national football team The Bhutan national football team () represents Bhutan in men's international Association football, football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in Bhutan, the Bhutan Football Federation, which is a member of the Asian F ...

in 2009.

Club career

Chencho began his playing career at the age of seventeen for

Druk Star Druk Stars Football Club, sometimes referred to as Druk Star, was a Bhutanese association football, football club from Thimphu. The team have won the national championship twice and competed in the Thimphu League, A-Division from 2002, when they ...

in the Bhutan A-Division in 2002. Druk Star had two mediocre seasons while Chencho was playing for them finishing fifth in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

following an unknown placing the previous season. He moved to Yeedzin in 2004. In his first four seasons with Yeedzin, the club was very much a mid table team during a period in which

Transport United Transport United Football Club is a Bhutanese professional football club based in Thimphu that competes in the Bhutan Premier League, the top level of Bhutanese football. The club was founded in 2001 and plays at the Changlimithang Stadium. Tran ...

dominated domestic football in Bhutan. in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Yeedzin produced their best performance to that point and Chencho was part of the team that won both the league and cup. 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 Choden Football Club was a football club from Bhutan, based at Changlimithang, consisting of players from the U-19 Bhutan national team, who played in the Bhutan A-Division, then the top level of football in Bhutan, but since replaced by a full ...

, the Bhutan U-19 team whilst also beating Rigzung 20–0 in the second half of the season. They won the 2008 A-Division Knock-Out Tournament, beating Royal Bhutan Army 4–3 in the final. The following season, despite scoring more goals than any other team and more than the bottom half of the table managed combined and with scorelines of 10–2, 20–0 and 16–1 against Rigzung and Druk Athletic twice respectively, 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. 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. 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 The 2009 AFC President's Cup was the fifth edition of the AFC President's Cup, a competition for football (soccer), football clubs in countries categorized as "emerging nations" by the Asian Football Confederation. Eleven teams competed for the ti ...

. They were drawn in Group C for the Group Stage, along with

Dordoi-Dynamo Naryn Football Club Dordoi Bishkek () is a Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz professional association football, football club based in Bishkek, that competes in the Kyrgyz Premier League. Founded in 1997, the club is owned by "Dordoi" Association, the group of compan ...

of Kyrgyzstan, Kanbawza of Burma and

Phnom Penh Crown Phnom Penh Crown Football Club (), commonly referred to as Crown or PPC, is a Cambodian professional football club based in Sangkat Toul Sangke II, Khan Russey Keo, Phnom Penh. The club competes in the Cambodian Premier League, the top flight ...

of Cambodia. They travelled to

Bishkek Bishkek, formerly known as Pishpek (until 1926), and then Frunze (1926–1991), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan ...

, 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, dropping points only once; in a 0–0 draw against Druk Pol. Following his performances both domestically and in continental football, Chencho earned himself a move to Royal Wahingdoh in the Indian

. 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. 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.

International career

Chencho has been capped ten times for the

, most recently he took part in the

2013 SAFF Championship The 2013 South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly referred to as 2013 SAFF Championship, was the 10th SAFF Championship for List of men's national association football teams#AFC (Asia), men's national football teams organized by the ...

, playing in two of Bhutan's three group games; the 2–8 loss to the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

and the 0–3 loss to Afghanistan.

Personal life

Prior to his move to Royal Wahingdoh, Chencho juggled football with his job at a private company in Bhutan. While playing for Royal Wahingdoh, he studied for an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

. He is a supporter of

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and his favourite player is

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

Honours

Royal Wahingdoh * Shillong Premier League: 2011, 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nio, Chencho Bhutan men's international footballers Bhutanese men's footballers Yeedzin FC players Living people 1985 births People from Thimphu Bhutanese expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate men's footballers in India Royal Wahingdoh FC players Luangmual FC players Thimphu City FC players Paro FC players I-League 2 players Bhutan Premier League players Men's association football defenders Bhutanese expatriate men's footballers