Malaysia national men's futsal coach Chiew Chun Yong has been nominated for the Dimitri Nicolaou Award at the upcoming 2017 Umbro Futsal Awards.

The award, which is named after former Greece coach Dimitri Nicolaou who passed away from cancer in 2007, crowns the best national futsal coach of the year.

After being transferred from the women's national team to replace Marcelo Serpa in 2016, Chiew has boosted Malaysia's fortunes at international level, including improving their futsal ranking to 53rd in the world and seventh in Asia.

Under his tutelage, the Tigers also finished as runners-up at the 2017 SEA Games and 2017 AFF Futsal Championship, and qualified for the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship, which will kick off this February.

In an interview with Astro Arena, he credited the nomination to hard work from the entire national set-up.

"The recognition is all thanks to the players, management and coaches for their close cooperation," said the former national player.

"This is something very positive, but I do not focus on any individual achievement because my main focus remains on the national futsal team."

Other nominees for the award are current holder Diego Raul Giustozzi and 2016 winner Jose Venancio Lopez Hierro.

The winner will be announced on January 10.