GFA Rope in Airtel and Puma as Sponsors for Santosh Trophy !

Goa will face Daman & Diu in their opening West zone Group B encounter of the 68th Santosh Trophy at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Wednesday. The 20-member squad will be led by Steven Fernandes of Tuff Laxmi Prasad SC. The match kicks-off at 4 pm. 

The Goan players will don new elegant white jerseys that will sport the logo of telecom major Airtel, the title sponsors of the team. Goa Football Association has also roped in international sports goods company Puma as kitting partner of the team. 

All India Football Federation has tweaked the format of the national football championship to get more involvement from fans across the length and breadth of the country. The 2014 edition will see the competition divided into five zones — South, North, North East, East and West. The winner from each group will qualify for the knock-out round, which will be held in Siliguri.    

Addressing a press conference to announce the Goa team for the tournament on Wednesday, Goa Football Association (GFA) president Shrinivas Dempo said: “We are on a high after a Goan team (Churchill Brothers) won the Federation Cup a few days back and Tuesday’s incredible performance of the football team to win the Lusofonia Games gold. I think we can build on this performance as we compete in Santosh Trophy and I am confident that the young Goa team will perform brilliantly under the able leadership of technical director Vishwas Gaonkar.”

“We have new partners in Airtel and you have seen the new Goa Pro League, which was much more vibrant and charged. I hope our Santosh Trophy team performs as per the expectations of the fans,” Dempo, who is also vice-president of AIFF, said.

“When it comes to grassroots development, the Santosh Trophy is a great avenue for youngsters to showcase their talent. The Lusofonia team was more than 90% Goan and all of them were under 21. They gave a brilliant display to beat a difficult opponent like Mozambique in Tuesday’s final … I hope that with the partnership with Procam and Airtel, we can give more action-packed football to Goans,” Dempo added.  

Goa has been clubbed in Group B of the west zone with Gujarat and Daman and Diu. The group A consists of Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The zonal matches will be played at Tilak Stadium, Vasco and Duler Stadium, Mapusa. After their opener against Daman and Diu, Goa will next face Gujarat on February 3. 

Dempo has expressed confidence that the young Goan team which consists of Goa’s professional clubs, with eight of them from Sesa Football Academy, will perform well and bring back the Santosh Trophy home after a gap of five years.

Technical director Vishwas Gaonkar will lead the team, while Anthony Levino Pereira will assist him. Seby Noronha is the goalkeeping coach while GFA vice-president (north) Lavinio Rebello has been named as the Chef de Mission.

Meanwhile, taking a cue from the successful organisation of the football event at Lusofonia Games 2014, where the gates of the stadiums were thrown open to the general public without any ticketing, the GFA has announced that entry to the two Santosh Trophy venues will be free.

GOA SQUAD: Steven Fernandes (C), Reagan Juliao (GK), Jerson Pereira, Prajyot Naik, Maio Mascarenhas, Meldon Silva, Neville Miranda, Stanley D’Silva, Ponif Vaz, Lenston Alfonso, Sachin Gawas, Perryson Rebello, Guirish Naik, Valeriano Fernandes, Nicholas Fernandes, Brandon Fernandes, Agnelo Colaco, Lavino Fernandes, Umesh Harijan and Alvito Miranda.

NHT