Football in Goa

Introduced to Goa by an English priest and spurred on by former Portuguese colonial rulers, football came to be embedded in the Goan culture and is, undoubtedly, the most popular sport in Goa. Many local youngsters learn to kick a ball in make-shift, rough hewn uncultivated paddy fields.

Goan inter-village football is the ultimate contest for supremacy between villages. Matches are in full flow throughout the season even during torrential rains from June to August, although professional matches are limited to the fair weather season between September and April.

Invariably, any Goan village feast is incomplete without an inter-village football tournament. Little wonder then, as a football power house, Goa is home to five ONGC I League teams besides 170 local clubs which have grouped themselves under the Goa Football Association. Winner of four national Santosh Trophies in 1982, 1983, 1989 and 2005 and two National League Tournaments in 2006 and 2007, Goa has reaffirmed her position amongst the top three in the country. International players like goalkeeper Brahmanand Shankwalkar and striker Bruno Coutinho added to the medal tally when they were conferred with the highest award in sports, the Arjuna Award in 1998 and 2001 respectively. Amongst the women players, Yolanda D’Souza Kammermeier and Rekha Karapurkar are remembered for their brilliant performance at national and international games in the seventies.

The State’s main football venue is the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Margao

So fervent is the passion for football that for many decades, prominent mining firms who once dominated the state’s economy, including Salgaocar, Dempo and Sesa Goa, patronised football clubs. Sesa Goa recently sourced young talent from its Football Academy, the only one of its kind in Goa.

The sport has seen huge investment from politicians like ex-member of Parliament Churchill Alemao who has built powerful football clubs in Goa. Of the five league teams, Vasco Sports Club, which started as a popular people’s club and rose to the ranks of a major league team, is one of the oldest, completing 58 years this season. Goa has eight teams in the 1st Division, which include Sesa Goa Football Academy, Velsao Pale Sports Club and Raia Sporting Club, 30 teams in the 2nd Division and 100 teams in the 3rd Division.

The Goa Football Association which celebrates its 50th Anniversary in December has signed a MoU with Porto University, Portugal and Leicester City, UK for training and exchange programmes. The Don Bosco College of Physical Education also has similar agreements with Porto University and Universidade de Catolica de Brasilia. In recent times, foreign players, particularly those from Africa, have donned the colours of the six major league teams.

Text: Patricia Ann Alvares