Sukhwinder Singh (football manager)

Sukhwinder Singh is a former Indian footballer and current manager of Cuttack based Indian Women's League side, Rising Student's Club. As of 2011 he was the coach of the India U-23 side and formerly of the Pailan Arrows of the I-League. He formerly managed the Indian senior team and JCT FC. His notable achievements include the SAFF Cup 1998 win with the Indian senior team, the SAFF Cup 2009 with the India U-23 team[1] and the 1996–97 National Football League victory with JCT FC. He last coach I-League side Churchill Brothers.

Sukhwinder Singh is best remembered for India's performance in 2002 World Cup Qualifiers. India secured 11 points from 6 matches, same as Yemen, but finished behind them due to an inferior goal difference. Only UAE qualified for the next round. Even though they did not make it to the second round, India’s performance was commendable.

India started the campaign with solitary goal (by Jules Alberto) win over the mighty UAE at Bangalore. The men in blue defeated Brunei twice, one of which was a lopsided 5-0 win at home. They successfully held Yemen to draws in both the matches.

They lost only one game in the entire qualifying phase which was against UAE in an away encounter. If India had managed to beat Yemen in at least one of the ties, they would have surpassed UAE and qualified for the next stages.[2]