Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, who was captain of the Indian men’s football team from 1983 to 1986, is considered one of the best goalkeepers that this country has ever produced. He was named among the Padma Shri awardees on Tuesday.
He became a legend of Goan football as he led them to two consecutive Santosh Trophy titles in 1983 and 1984 and also won the Federation Cup for Goa.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) conferred him with the player of the decade for the 1985-1995 decade. He was also awarded the Arjuna award in 1997 by the Government of India to recognise his contribution to Indian football.
He played for Panvel Sports Club, Salgaocar, Churchill Brothers, Anderson Mariners at the club level, which included 17 years with Salgaocar.
Sankhwalkar made his debut with the national team in 1975 and played in the AFC Youth Championship in Kuwait that year and went on to get 50 national caps.
The tournaments that Sankhwalkar played in are: Marah Alim Cup in Kabul (1976 and 1977), the Merdeka Cup (1976, 1981, 1982 and 1986), King’s Cup in Bangkok (1977), and the President’s Cup in Seoul (1977 and 1982). After India’s successful Zambia Goodwill tour, he was given the nickname “Leopard”. He became India’s captain at the Nehru Cup in 1983 and led the team till 1986. He was also part of the Indian team at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul. He also captained the side against the visiting Bochum XI side from Germany in 1986.
After the end of his playing career, he completed the AFC A, B & C license exams for a coach and was India’s goalkeeping coach from 1997 to 2005.
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