Early coaching A recipient of the State Kerkar award, Armando, had to look beyond his retirement as a player and it were two men – Alberto Colaço, the present AIFF secretary, and Agnelo Mascarenhas, who encouraged the just-retired Dempo player to move into football coaching. And thus began a new journey for Armando the coach. From 1985-88, the Curtorim-based trainer, essayed himself into coaching Salcete Football Club and soon guided the club to a win in Stafford Cup. Soon, Armando had a one-year offer from
Sesa Goa, which he accepted with delight and during the 1988–89 season, the team won the Vitthal Trophy under his guidance. That actually set the tone for his coaching stints elsewhere as Armando, who was fast gathering moss, rolled on like a stone, and successfully coached the state U-21 Santosh team partnering Peter Vales and also Goa U-23 team at the
BC Roy Trophy in the early 90s. That was after a year-long stint with
Dempo S.C. (1989–90) where he won the Pomes Cup and Scissors Cup. Having agreed to accept the challenge, Armando greeted the opportunity to redefine the destiny of a football club, which under his patronage has risen from the dust to virtually touch the skies.
India On 17 May 2011, Colaço in an interview said that he had accepted the job to coach the
Indian football team. The All India Football Federation confirmed the appointment after an Executive Committee meeting on 20 May. On 10 July 2011, Colaço managed his first India match against
Maldives, the match ended 1–1. On 17 July 2011, Colaco won his first game as manager of India against
Qatar 2–1 in a friendly. On 23 July 2011, Colaço suffered his first defeat, 0–3, at the hands of the
UAE during a
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match at
Sheikh Khalifa International stadium,
Al Ain City. In the return leg on 28 July 2011 in
Ambedkar Stadium,
Delhi Colaço managed to get India a 2–2 draw but could not stop India from falling 5–2 on aggregate. He was removed from his post shortly, and replaced by
Savio Medeira in October 2011.
East Bengal On 14 November 2013, East Bengal appointed Armando Colaco as their new head coach. On 15 May 2014, it was confirmed that Colaco would continue coaching the club for another year. Despite being given the chance to coach the team for the entire
2014–15 campaign, it was announced that Colaco had been sacked by East Bengal on 18 February 2015.
Later years Since parting ways with East Bengal in 2015, Colaco had spells at Bardez FC,
Sesa FA and more-recently with
Churchill Brothers in the
Goa Professional League. In August 2022, Colaco was appointed as new head coach of another Goa-based side
Sporting Clube de Goa on a three-year deal. At the inaugural edition of
I-League 3 in 2023, his club Sporting Goa crowned champions with a superior head-to-head record against fellow Goan side Dempo and
Sporting Club Bengaluru in play-offs, secured promotion to the
I-League 2. ==Tactics==