An hour earlier, a grand opening ceremony will be held wherein 50 top artistes from Goa namely Hema Sardessai, Braz Gonsalves, Sonia Sirsat and others, who have worked alongside with Fr. Noel Noronha, will be performing. The highlight of the opening match will be Brazilian legend Carlos Luciano Da Silva fondly known as Mineiro.
The event is being organized by the Exposition 2014 Committee in association with John Paul II Foundation for Sports Goa under the aegis of Goa Football Association and All India Football Federation with support from the various Central and State government bodies.
The event has also picked up in Bangalore because of the partnership of the organizers with the Karnataka Sports Network headed by Francis Selvaraj along with his dedicated team of young sports people and the churches supporting the event.
A R Khaleel, President Karnataka state football association and his team of office bearers which include former internationals have extended total support to the event being held at the Bengaluru football stadium where Columbia, Nigeria, Egypt and Uzbekistan would dish out their magic to fans from Bangalore.
In Hyderabad, the event is being partnered with the Archdiocesan Youth Commission headed by Fr. Vinay and the Catholic association of Hyderabad with utmost support from the churches which include all denominations to make the event where Brazil, Ghana, Portugal and India would play their remaining group matches of group A at the Lal Bahadur Shashtri Stadium, Hyderabad.
There have been brisk sale of tickets at the Exhibition Centre of the Exposition, Old Goa; at the venue box office, Raia village panchayat ground, from 10 a.m to 6 p.m., wherein more than 3000 tickets have been sold out. The denominations are Rs 500 and Rs 300 at the West stand, Rs 200 at the South and East stand and Rs 150 at the North Stand.
Tickets have also been sold through the volunteers of different churches throughout South Goa. Tickets are also available at Cafe Coffee Day, near Hotel Nanutel, Margao.
Uzbekistan have already arrived from Tashkent to Delhi on Wednesday evening, other teams arrive into Goa via Mumbai on December 4.
The only hitch is that the games could not have been held at a more prominent or bigger stadium to give more fans a chance to witness the football.
