Panaji
The club will field its developmental squad which has been training under the watchful eye of the club's Head of Youth Development, Derrick Pereira and his assistant Clifford Miranda.
The club's management welcomed the news. Rahul Rodrigues, Vice President - Operations, said "We are pleased with the decision of the GFA to allows us to take part in this season of the Goa Pro League. We intend to field our Developmental Squad which comprises of over 80% Goans and has a lot of players brimming with talent. We have created this team with the aim of investing in the future of Goan football and now these players will be given an opportunity to hone and test their skills at the highest level. We have given each of our players multiple full year contracts and we see this as a beginning for players to start orienting themselves as players of FC Goa. With regular training and competition experience, these players have all the ingredients to kick on and make a names for themselves at a bigger stage.
With time, we hope the boys in our U-18, U-15 and U-13 teams can also make the step up and gradually move towards the ultimate aim of playing for the first team."
FC Goa's Head of Youth Development, Derrick Pereira said: "We are pleased that the boys will have a chance to test their skills in the Goa Pro League. The boys are at an age where competition is vital and with an opportunity to play in a full year league, they will be better for it with the experience. We have been training hard for the past month and a half and this will allow us to test our progress consistently, both on an individual basis and as a team. We are placing an emphasis on player development this year and we are glad that we will have a platform where these boys can showcase their skills."
