Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa Football Development Council commemorated their fourth anniversary, in the city, recently.
Speaking on the occasion Goa Football Development Corporation Chairman Dr Rufino Monteiro said GFDC has successfully completed four years and we have been successful in training 4000 plus youngsters.
Further mentioning that, GFDC has a total of five pre-academies and one residential academy in the state of Goa and till now a total of 30 young footballers have further completed their training from the grassroot level and now have been selected for training at the residential academy.
He also said that the main reason for decline of football in India was due to lack of grassroot programs. Countries like Spain, Germany and Belgium have moved ahead in the game of football as they respectively developed a better grassroot level for footballers.
“We at GFDC have taken quiet a task to develop this academy and a better grassroot system training where 4000 plus young footballers are being trained with expert supervison under 100 talented coaches.” He said.
He mentioned that GFDC has given the retired Goan coaches an opportunity to once again come into the game in the form of coaching young talents and assured that within a few years from now, GFDC will create a platform for young footballers to showcase their talent at international levels.
On this occasion four football fraternities namely Brahmanand Shankwalkar, Francis D’souza, Ritina Fernandes and Prakash Naik’s wife in his stead were felicitated.
Chief Guest Siddharth Kunkalienkar along with IAS Mathew Samules and other GFDC officials graced the occasion.
