भारत सरकार GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Dronacharya Award

Department of Sports
Home >> OnGoing Nominations >> Dronacharya Award

17/02/2026

Nomination Start Date

05/03/2026

Nomination End Date

Announcement Date
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Dronacharya Award

The award is intended to :

i) Honour coaches who have done outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and enabled sportspersons to excel in international events; and
 
(ii) Motivate coaches to dedicate themselves with a singularity of purpose of raising the standard of sportspersons to highest performance in international events and thus bring glory to the country

Eligibility

  1. To be eligible for the award, coach, whether he/she works full time or part time as coach, he/she should have produced outstanding achievement over a period of four years immediately preceding the year in which the award is to be given. During the years when Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Asian Games are held, achievements of the sportspersons, who have been imparted couching, upto conclusion of these Games will also be considered. Nominated coach will have to submit details of periods for which he/she coached the disciple(s) in question against whose performance he/she is seeking the Award. The Ministry reserves the right to seek affidavit from the sportsperson concerned where it is found that more than one coach is claiming credit for achievements of a sportsperson.
  2. For 2 awards earmarked for lifetime contribution in coaching, achievements of the coach in producing outstanding sportspersons over a period of 20 years or more will be taken into account.
  3. A coach found encouraging the use of drugs/substances banned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) based on a sample collected by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) or any other agency authorized by WADA and tested by National Dope Testing Laboratory or any other WADA accredited laboratory, by a sportsperson whom he/she is coaching, will not be eligible for the Dronacharya Award. A coach against whom enquiry is going on/pending in this regard will also be ineligible.
  4. Sportspersons who have already been conferred with Dhyan Chand Award will not be eligible to apply for Dronacharya Award.

 

Decoration

  1. The Award shall comprise of a statuette, a certificate, ceremonial dress and a cash prize of Rs. 10,00,000/- (Rupees ten lakhs) for Regular and Rs. 15,00,000 for Lifetime which will be presented to the winners at the function for the presentation of the Award to be held at a place and on a date to be decided by competent authority.
  2. No Award will be made for a second time to the same person.
  3. The Award may be given posthumously if such an occasion arises.

No. of Awardees

Ordinarily not more than 5 awards could be given in any calendar year, Out of these, will be earmarked for lifetime contribution in couching.

Who can nominate ?

Self Nomination Accepted Only

Selection Process

  1. The Awards will be decided by a Selection Committee constituted by the Government of India as under:-

 

1

Chairperson

To be nominated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports

2

Sportspersons of         eminence (Olympians or previous Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna or Arjuna Awardees)

2 members

3

Previous Dronacharya Awardees from different disciplines

3 members

4

Sports Journalists/Experts/Commentators

2 members

5

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme Secretariat

Ex-officio member

6

Executive Director (TEAMS)/Officer in charge of TEAMS Division, Sports Authority of India

Ex-officio member

7

Joint Secretary (Sports), Department of Sports

Member Secretary

 

 

  1. There should be minimum two years of gap before a member other than ex-officio is re-nominated as chairperson or member in the Selection Committee.
  2. Not more than one sportsperson of eminence or previous Dronacharya Awardee from a particular sports discipline shall be a member of the Selection Committee to avoid any bias in favour of a particular discipline.
  3. A statement of achievements of all those coaches, who fulfill eligibility criteria and whose nominations have been received before last date, will be sent to the members of the Selection Committee at least a week in advance before the meeting of the Selection Committee.
  4. The Chairperson in consultation with Member-Secretary may constitute panel amongst the members of the Committee to assist the Committee.
  5. The Chairperson may seek advice of experts in specific sports disciplines wherever necessary.
  6. Shortlisted nominations from team games may be sent to experts at least a week in advance for their views. The experts may also be asked to attend Selection Committee meetings to clarify the doubts of members. The evaluation criteria may include international recognition, goals scored, player of the match/player of the tournament award, etc of the trainees of the coach.
  7. Any person directly or indirectly related to a coach nominated for the Awards shall not be eligible to participate in deliberations of the Selection Committee, concerning that coach.
  8. The Committee will determine its own work procedure and will keep in view the guidelines/criteria, if any, framed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports Members of the Selection Committee will give their recommendations as per the provisions of the scheme and the marks criteria of the scheme.
  9. The quorum for the meeting of the Committee shall be 75% of the members of the Committee and the Chairperson.
  10. The Committee shall select the Award winners by consensus failing which by a majority, decision and give its report to the Government of India within one month of reference.
  11. The Executive Director (TEAMS)/Director (TEAMS), Sports Authority of India will be present at the time of deliberations of the Committee in order to  provide information / clarifications, if any, required by the Committee.
  12. All the selection proceedings will be treated as “Confidential”, The Chairperson may take necessary steps in consultation with the Member Secretary to maintain strict confidentiality of the deliberations and selection made by the Committee.