Panaji
Goa is set to play Meghalaya in the opening match of the 71st National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy at SAG Athletic stadium, Bambolim, on March 12 at 4pm.
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.
A meeting of the organizing committee of the Santosh Trophy was held on Wednesday at the office of the Chief Secretary at the Secretariat.
Chaired by the Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, the meeting was attended by B R Singh (Secretary Sports), V M Prabhudesai (Executive Director SAG), Nila Mohanan (Collector North) and Roncan Pereira (attending on behalf of Swapnil Naik, Collector South). The Chief Secretary also released the draw on the occasion.
Also present were Schubert Furtado (VP South, GFA), Lavinio Rebello (VP North, GFA), Kartik Kashyap (SP North), Chandan Choudhari (SP South), Devesh Kumar (SP Traffic), Sanjeev Dalvi (Director of Health Department), Ashok Menon (Director of Fire Services), Welvin Menezes (General Secretary, GFA) and GFA members, Angelo Albuquerque, Prakash Naik, Anthony Leo Fernandes, Bishut Themudo, Francis D’Souza, John Silva, Arnaldo Costa, Anthony John D’Costa,Patrick D’Souza, Raju Banaulikar, Anthony Pango, Sanjiv Nagvenkar. Speaking after the fruitful 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 organizing the Santosh Trophy. GFA is fully committed to hosting a good tournament for the fans and the public and we hope the crowd rallies 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.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals.
Bambolim and Tilak Maidan would be the two main venues for the matches with Bambolim hosting
all of Goa’s matches.
The semifinal and final will be played under lights at Bambolim. The finals are scheduled to be held on March 26 at Bambolim.
