Team Herald
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PANJIM: Being at the twilight of their football careers –Luis Barreto and Cavin Lobo have now joined hands to launch South Goa United FC academy at Nuvem recently.
While Luis Barreto featured in Goa Professional League last season, Cavin played in I-League last season, however, after playing football at the top flight for numerous years, they have now thought of developing young footballers through their academy.
The duo who played together at Sporting Clube de Goa roped in their former coach Clifford Chukwuma as their technical head of the academy. “I am delighted to be here in the midst of these millennials. It’s not easy to start an academy. Luis and Cavin were my players at Sporting Clube de Goa and I want to promise every parent to make up their mind as something good comes to their table,” stated Chukwuma.
“We are ready for this challenge and we will ensure that the children will benefit from this and that is our promise,” added Chukwuma.
The coaching will be held in four categories – U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14. “We want to start young but our ambitions are to expand in future having numerous centres across the state and also playing in the State leagues,” stated the academy founder Luis Barreto. Cavin Lobo, who is looking for another season in I-League stated, “This is something we had been thinking of starting for quite some time. We have a dedicated team to run this academy and our aim is to support the children from the remote areas. There is plenty of talent in the State and our academy will work to help develop these young players.”
Chief guest and current India junior team coach and former teammate Bibiano Fernandes assured all the support for the academy. “This is a good start and having coaches and mentors of these calibres are good for the academy and football. We will definitely see some quality players developed from this academy,”
The registration for the academy will begin from September 1 at The Empire Sports Arena, Nuvem or the interested students may contact Luis or Cavin.
Former Dempo SC star Joaquim Abranches, Vivek de Viegas, Umer M and Terrence Lobo were present for the launch ceremony.
