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The All India Football Federation after having a look at the 75 applications for the India Under-17 national team coaching and cutting down the list to eight coaches, have decided to offer Luis Norton de Matos of Portugal to role of head coach.
The AIFF created a special committee to shortlist the best potential coaches for the India U-17 team which besides Luis Norton De Matos also included the likes of Colm Toal, Oscar Bruzon, Stuart Pearce, Edgar Borges and Abraham Garcia.
That list was cut down to three coaches in Luis Norton De Matos, Colm Toal, and Oscar Bruzon with the committee zeroing down on Luis Norton De Matos being the best candidate for the job despite having no prior experience of coaching in India.
63 year old Lisbon-born Luís Maria Cabral Norton de Matos started his career with the youth team of GD Estoril Praia before moving to SL Benfica but there only played for the reserves. Thereafter he played for Académica de Coimbra, GD Estoril Praia, Atlético Clube de Portugal and CF Os Belenenses before moving to Belgian side Standard Liège. He returned to play for Portimonense SC, a second time for Belenenses and Estrela Amadora.
During this career he played five times for Portugal scoring one goal against West Germany in a friendly.
Initially de Matos coached in the second and third tier of Portuguese football at Atlético Clube de Portugal, FC Barreirense, Espinho SC (twice), Salgueiros SC, and Vitória Setúbal before coaching at top tier Vitória Guimarães. He then moved to Guinea-Bissau to coach club side Étoile Lusitana before going on to coach the Guinea-Bissau national team.
He returned to Portugal to coach SL Benfica ‘B’, GD Chaves and União Madeira.
In between he was the technical director of Sporting Clube de Portugal, which is an impressive CV and that has prompted the AIFF to invite de Matos to meet with the AIFF top brass before it takes a final decision.
