Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Sanju were on Friday declared as winners of the 2019- 20 AIFF men’s and women’s footballer of the year awards respectively.
This is the first time Gurpreet has received the award, and in the process, he became the second goalkeeper after Subrata Paul in 2009 to be named the AIFF Player of the Year.
“There was always a desire to reach this point and this is an award which I have always looked up to. Chhetri-bhai (Sunil Chhetri) has won it so many times and I have always thought when I can be worthy enough to win it,” the 28-year-old, who had also received the Arjuna Award last year, said.
“Garnering the all-important draw against Asian Champions Qatar in Doha, eleven clean sheets in last Indian Super League edition, winning the Golden Glove award could not have been possible without the team,” he added.
Meanwhile, midfielder Sanju was selected the winner for an excellent season while Ratanbala Devi was the winner of the 2019-20 Emerging Women’s Footballer of the Year Award. Both the winners were selected by national women’s team head coach Maymol Rocky in consultation with AIFF Technical Director Isac Doru.