Team Herald
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Goa Football Association are all set to host the Santosh Trophy in the state after a span of 21 years from March 12 to March 26 as they held their organising committee meeting for the 71st National Football Championship, at the office of chief secretary at the Secretariat, on Wednesday.
The meeting was chaired by the Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, who is also the chairman for the tournament. The meeting was attended by Secretary Sports BR Singh, SAG Executive Director VM Prabhudesai, Collector North Nila Mohanan and Roncan Pereira. The Chief Secretary also released the draw on the occasion besides selecting the committee for the tournament.
Goa is set to play Meghalaya in the opening match at SAG Athletic Stadium, Bambolim, on March 12 at 4p.m. while Chandigarh will tackle West Bengal in the other match of the day to be played simultaneously at Rosary ground, Navelim.
The Santosh Trophy, which was one of the most prestigious tournaments of yesteryear, makes a return to Goa after a gap of 21 years. Goa last won the trophy in 2009 with captain and goalkeeper Felix D’Souza leading from the front as Goa emerged champions without conceding a goal.
The following is the organizing committee for the Santosh Trophy. Chairman: Dharmendra Sharma (chief secretary); Vice Chairmen: BR Singh (secretary sports), V M Prabhudesai (executive director SAG), Nila Mohanan (collector North), Swapnil Naik (collector South) and Elvis Gomes (president GFA); Organising President: Schubert Furtado; Organising Vice Presidents: Lavinio Rebello, Kartik Kashyap, Chandan Choudhari (SP South), Devesh Kumar (SP Traffic), Sanjeev Dalvi (Director Health Department) and Ashok Menon (Director Fire Services);
Organising Secretary: Welvin Menezes (general secretary GFA); Assistant Secretaries: Angelo Albuquerque and Prakash Naik.
Speaking after the meeting, Welvin Menezes said that the GFA was geared up to host a successful tournament. “The meeting was very fruitful. We are thankful to the Chief Secretary, the Executive Director of SAG and all other government departments who pledged their support and cooperation to the Goa Football Association in organising the Santosh Trophy. GFA is fully committed to hosting a good tournament for the fans and the public and we hope the crowd rally behind Goa and help us win the Santosh Trophy on home soil,” he said.
The teams that have qualified for the final round are Services, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Goa, Chandigarh, all placed in Group A while Kerala, Maharshtra, Mizoram, Railways and Punjab make up Group B. Bambolim and Tilak Maidan are the two main venues for the matches with Bambolim hosting all of Goa’s matches.
