India's football coach Stephen Constantine has been named Asian Football Confederation Coach of the Month for guiding the Indian team to the silver medal in the inaugural Afro-Asian Games.

Iran's Ali Karimi was named October's AFC Player of the Month while Oman won the AFC Team of the Month award.

Constantine, a 41-year-old British national, took charge of the Indian team in June 2002 and guided it to a historic triumph in the LG Cup in Vietnam last year. He also coached the India under-18 team, which won the Ian Rush Trophy in Wales in August this year.

At the Busan Asian Games last year, India put up a creditable performance, missing a quarter-final berth on goal difference.

At the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad, from October 24 to November 1, India beat Rwanda 3-1, Malaysia 2-0 and Zimbabwe 5-3 en route to the final before losing to Uzbekistan 0-1, the goal coming in the last minute of the match.

Constantine, who has earlier trained the national teams of Cyprus and Nepal, is one of the youngest members of the FIFA Instructors' panel.

This is second time an Indian coach has bagged the honour in recent years. Sukhwinder Singh won the award in April 2001 after India upset UAE in the Pre-World Cup qualifiers.