A SUCCESSFUL athlete and coach from the national ranks, Golden Booters head coach Nonnoy Carpio is now set to make use of his football knowledge in the international arena when he works for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as a development officer for goalkeeping starting this June.
After one championship and four bridesmaid tags in seven UAAP seasons with UST, Carpio will leave for Malaysia for a four-year working contract with the AFC. The longtime UST mentor will hand the coaching job to his assistant, Marjo Allado, a former Golden Booter and current RP team member.
“The job is a dream come true for me,” Carpio told the Varsitarian. “I have always wanted to have a career in international football and I am glad I finally achieved it.”
Aside from being the AFC goalkeeping instructor, Carpio will also be in-charge of the AFC technical study group for international competitions.
As early as September last year, Carpio received an email from the AFC informing him of a possible appointment to the international football organization. Carpio expressed his desire for the job, but told AFC to wait until 2006 because he was still training with the RP team as consultant and goalkeeping coach for the Southeast Asian Games, aside from coaching UST during the UAAP. It was only last January when Carpio formally accepted the offer.
Carpio notes that his productive performance during his stay at the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) as the national team coordinator earned him the nod of the AFC.
In 2001, Carpio was the only candidate in the first AFC Goalkeeping Coaching Course in Malaysia to receive a grade of A, the highest possible mark. In 2003, he was one of the top three participants in the AFC Advanced Goalkeeping Coaching Course.
In 2004, he was listed as one of the AFC panel instructors for goalkeeping. Last year, he was the lone Philippine delegate to the AFC-Football Association Learning Seminar and the AFC goalkeeping instructors course.
“Now that I will be working for the AFC, I will be learning more about the sport such as development, administration, and the type of international competition I need to help improve football in our country,” Carpio said.
Goalkeeping has always been Carpio’s expertise. He started as a goalkeeper for the UST Golden Booters from 1982 to 1987. He then made it into national team also as a goalkeeper from 1987 to 1997. He was also the RP team goalkeeping coach from 1998 until his appointment. Llanesca T. Panti
