PANAJI
WhenFC Goa lost to Bengaluru FC 2-0 at Fatorda on Saturday, it was FC Goa‘s first loss in the current Indian Super League (ISL) 2025-26season in seven matches.
Butthat match was attended by mere 2,532 spectators – the secondlowest in the history for any ISL game played in Goa ever since thetournament began in 2014.
Duringthat match, majority of the seats in the stadium were empty, with thestadium filled to mere 13.3 percent of its capacity 19,000. Majorityof the crowd were seen in the East, West and South stand. The Northstand was almost empty. The stadium even had few fans of Bengaluru FCwho were seen cheering their team. They had travelled all the wayfrom Bengaluru to support their side.
But,overall, the stadium was near empty. Indeed, a very dismal sight tosee for any football loving fan. The buzz, excitement and festiveatmosphere is clearly missing now inside in the Fatorda stadiumduring ISL matches.
Duringthis season, spectators have just stayed away from FC Goa’s homegames. The first match against Inter Kashi at Fatorda on February 14witnessed mere 1,577 spectators., the lowest in Goa’s ISL history.
Attendanceimproved slightly during FC Goa’s next game against Sporting Delhion February 26 with 5,160 spectators attending that match.
Inthree games, a total of 9,269 spectators has attended the matches atFatorda this season. That makes an average of 3,089 spectators pergame. This is just 30 percent of last season’s average attendance.
Duringlast season 2024-25, in 12 games played by FC Goa at Fatorda, 123,548spectators had attended the matches, with an average of 10,295spectators per game.
Thesefigures were slightly better than 2023-24 season. During that season,95.064 spectators had watched the games at Fatorda, with an averageof 8.480 per game.
Butthe current season has been a disaster in terms of crowd attendance.All the three games played at Fatorda this season occupy thetop-three least attended matches in ISL history at Fatorda.
Exceptfor Mohun Bagan and East Bengal home games in Kolkata and BengaluruFC home games in Bengaluru, attendance figures for ISL matches forother venues across India including Goa have been relatively lessthis season as compared to previous seasons.
FCGoa has three home games remaining to be played at Fatorda againstOdisha FC (April 10), Mumbai City (April 18) and Mohun Bagan (May 9).Hopefully, more fans will come to witness those games.
