Gift Raikhan (born 25 May 1981) is an Indian retired

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 ...

who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, and football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

who last managed NEROCA. He also managed

Manipur football team The Manipur football team is an Indian football team representing Manipur in Indian state football competitions including the Santosh Trophy. They have appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals twice, and have won the trophy once, in 2002-03. S ...

Santosh Trophy The Santosh Trophy, officially known as Hero Senior Men's National Football Championship due to sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, is a state football leagues in India, state-level association football, football competition contested by the L ...

Playing career

During a playing career which spanned six seasons, Raikhan played for BMFC,

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually p ...

HAL HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bangalore, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...

Indian Bank Indian Bank is an Indian public sector bank, established in 1907 and headquartered in Chennai. It serves over 100 million customers with 39,734 employees, 5,721 branches with 5,428 ATMs and Cash deposit machines. Total business of the bank has ...

, Vasco,

BEML BEML Limited, formerly Bharat Earth Movers Limited, is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. It manufactures a variety of heavy equipment, such as that used for earth moving, railways, transport a ...

, and

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

. He even played in the

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the win ...

. His favorite moment of his career was during the 2000 Rovers Cup when he scored for BMFC against Churchill Brothers which helped secure his move to the club.

Coaching career

After retiring in 2007, Raikhan joined the Youth System at Pune. From 2008 to 2010 Raikhan was assistant to Norbert Gonsalvez in coaching the u17 and u15 teams. In 2011, he was promoted to head coach of the Pune F.C. Academy U20 side and in 2012 led the team to a championship by finishing first in the 2012 I-League U20. In September 2013, it was confirmed that Raikhan had been promoted to the first-team at

Pune F.C. Pune Football Club was an Indian professional football club based in Pune, Maharashtra. The club has competed in the I-League, then top flight of Indian football league system. The club was one of the most professional clubs in Indian footb ...

as the assistant to new head coach

Mike Snoei Mike Snoei (born 4 December 1963) is a former Dutch association football, football player and manager. He is currently in charge of Eerste Divisie side SC Telstar, Telstar. During his playing days, Snoei played for S.B.V. Excelsior, Excelsior an ...

. In June 2018,

Aizawl F.C. Aizawl FC is an Indian professional football club based in Aizawl, Mizoram, that competes in the I-League. Incorporated in 1984, the club earned the entry in India's top-tier league in 2015–16, after winning 2015 I-League 2nd Division. Nickn ...

announced signing of Raikhan from

NEROCA F.C. NEROCA FC is an Indian professional football club based in Imphal, Manipur, that competes in the I-League. The club made its I-League 2nd Division debut in the 2015–16 season. The club won the 2016–17 I-League 2nd Division and secured ...

as head coach for

2018–19 I-League The 2018–19 I-League was the 12th season of the I-League, the top Indian professional football league, since its establishment in 2007. The season started on 26 October 2018 and is scheduled to conclude in March 2019. Unlike the Indian Super ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Managerial

NEROCA *

I-League 2nd Division I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind India ...

: 2016–17 *

runner-up: 2017–18 Individual # Best Coach of

2017–18 I-League The 2017–18 I-League was the 11th season of the I-League. Aizawl were the defending champions. NEROCA entered as the promoted team from the 2016–17 I-League 2nd Division. The season began on 25 November 2017. Teams All India Football Feder ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raikhan, Gift Indian footballers 1981 births Living people I-League players Footballers from Manipur Association football defenders Aizawl FC managers Gokulam Kerala FC managers NEROCA FC managers Bengal Mumbai FC players Indian football managers