Dempo Sports Club have been drawn to meet local favourites Calangute Association in the opening match of the AWES Cup, a season-opening all-India football tournament, at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on September 1.
the goan I network
Panaji
All matches will kick off at 4pm and the final will be held on September 17.
Dempo Sports Club are among the four seeded teams in the tournament, based on their performance last season in the Goa Professional League where they finished third, behind champions Salgaocar FC and runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa. Fourth-placed FC Bardez is the other seeded team who were all drawn in the same pot while the draw was being carried out in the presence of participating team managers at Dempo House in Panaji on Monday.
All outstation teams were placed in the second pot, while the remainder of the teams were placed in the third pot. A group consists one team from each of the pots.
Dempo, placed in Group A, will kick-off their campaign with a tough encounter against Calangute Association on the opening day. Calangute, known to enjoy plenty of crowd support at Duler, will be no pushovers and will look for a positive start with Mumbai-based ONGC being the other team in the group.
Goa Professional League champions Salgaocar FC will face FC Goa's developmental squad in their opening game on Saturday, September 2. With Viva Chennai the other team in the group, both teams will look forward to an encouraging result.
Only the group winners qualify for the knock-out semi-finals.
"The tournament will see some mouth-watering clashes, starting with the opening game between Dempo SC and Calangute Association. Both teams are known to draw good crowd support at Duler and we expect the supporters to show up in big numbers for the tournament," said AWES secretary Jonathan de Souza.
FIXTURES
Sept 1: Dempo SC vs Calangute Association; Sept 2: Salgaocar vs FC Goa; Sept 3: FC Bardez vs Dempo Juniors; Sept 4: Sporting Clube vs Vasco SC; Sept 5: ONGC vs Calangute Association; Sept 6: FC Goa vs Viva Chennai; Sept 7: Dempo Juniors vs FC Pune City; Sept 8: Vasco SC vs Gokulam FC; Sept 9: ONGC vs Dempo SC; Sept 10: Viva Chennai vs Salgaocar FC; Sept 11: FC Pune City vs FC Bardez; Sept 12: Gokulam FC vs Sporting Clube; Sept 13: Rest Day; Sept 14: Semifinal (Winner Group A vs C); Sept 15: Semifinal (Winner Group B vs D); Sept 16: Rest Day; Sept 17: Final
All matches at Duler Stadium, Mapusa at 4 pm.
