PANJIM: It’s been a long anxious wait but it has finally paid off. Young Goan football talent Brandon Fernandes has been given clearance by All India Football Federation to play for Sporting Clube de Goa, who has been training with since September.
The International Transfer Certificate came a few days back and the Sporting Clube completed the registration with the football federation on Saturday.
It was a year ago that Brandon’s goal helped Goa-India to score a thrilling 3-2 victory over Mozambique and clinch the Lusofonia Games football gold medal, which was a proud moment for Goa.
Brandon, who made his debut in the GFA age group league at the age of nine, had a very unusual year (2014) for not playing a single professional match and frustratingly waiting for an international clearance from South Africa.
He started his career at a very young age playing for the youth teams such as Fransa and Velsao Pale, before making the move to Salgaocar FC where he started to gain a reputation as a promising talent. He represented Goa and later India in almost all the age categories from 13 to 19.
In 2008, when Manchester United ran a skills competition in Goa, Brandon excelled which saw him travel to the theatre of dreams at Old Trafford, England, where he stormed into the top 10 in the skills category amongst a host of players from top nations.
Brandon came back to Goa and continued to make headlines through his exploits on the field with club and country, also scooping accolades and recognition as a young sportsman by winning BIG FM and Geno awards. In 2010, his talent caught the attention of the ASD Academy, Cape Town, South Africa.
During his stint in South Africa he would come back to represent the national team. He eventually played for Salt Water Blackpool in the South African Second Division.
His sparkling performances allowed him to travel to Europe and have trials with the likes of Leicester City, Reading and Sunderland in England and also St Mirren in Scotland where he had to come home after sustaining an injury.
Although, he did not manage to bag the elusive contract in Europe, Brandon believes his experience to date has given him the perfect grounding.
“Having played with foreign players in the academy and on trial, my confidence with the ball has improved. We were shown how to keep the tempo high when attacking which came from lots of repetition in practice,” remarked Brandon.
Brandon’s childhood idol is Cristiano Ronaldo, but he now models his game around Spanish attacking midfielder Isco.
“I want to thank the Sporting Clube de Goa President Peter Vaz and the Flaming Oranje for giving me this opportunity to reignite my career,” informed Brandon.
His short term goals are to create assists and score goals for Sporting Clube and play his part in helping the team win major silver-ware. Thinking long term he wants to break into the senior national team and eventually fullfill his dream of playing abroad.
“Brandon is a bright young Goan talent, we had no hesitation in signing him and believe if he can keep his head down and stay motivated he can carve out a long and illustrious career in the game,” stated Sporting Clube de Goa President Peter Vaz.
