Sports Facilities in Goa

Just like all the other fields, Goans excel in many areas of sports as well. Games like Football, Cricket, Hockey, Tennis, Athletics, Racquet sports and an array of water sports are very popular in the state. There are many famous sportsmen in the country that have their origins from the state of Goa. Menino Figuereido is the first Goan native to play for India in the sport of Football in 1963 on the goodwill tour of Russia. However, some say that since this was not an official tour for the country, therefore, the first Goan to have represented India in Football is Visitacao Lobo in 1970.

Many Goans have made a memorable and a powerful mark in the field of sports in India. Most of them have even represented the country by playing in Mumbai and rising at the domestic level, thus receiving international caps. Some popular names like Bruno Coutinho, Roberto Fernandes and Mauricio Afonso have even captained the country’s’ senior national football team, while Lawrence Gomes and Seby Antao have captained the country’s’ junior national soccer team.

Football in Goa

Goa is probably the only state in the country that is not obsessed with cricket. Rather, football is so popular over here that almost every third Goan plays football either on the local, state or national level. Football is practically embedded in the culture of Goa. It was initially introduced in the state when one of the visiting Irish priests Fr. William Robert Lyons made this sport a part of the Christian education.

Goa Football Association

Associação de Futebol de Goa was formed on 22nd December 1959, which was later changed to Goa Football Association (GFA) with senior football administrator, Elvis Gomes as current president. It is main state governing body of football over here and is affiliated to All Indian Football Federation (AIFF).

In 1969, the association then began the Goa Senior League, which was initially supposed to the first division in the state, however it was later dissolved. For the season during 1970-71, GFA divided the First Division into two parts namely – North Division and South Division and for the 1971-72 season, GFA later introduced a Second and a Third Division.

In 1977, GFA then started the Goa Super Division where Salgaocar S. C. became the champions. As football started gaining a lot of national importance, Goa Football Association decided to up their game by going professional. It was the first ever state to go professional in the country.

The Goa Football Association then refurbished the National State League by starting the Goa Professional League in 1997. By 2000-2001, the league was then expanded to six teams after carefully evaluating the competitiveness factor and by 2002; the league was extended to an eight team league making it fourteen matches for each club. Finally, in 2011, the GFA announced that ten teams, namely, Calangute Association, Churchill Brothers, Dempo, Goa Velha, Laxmi Prasad, Salgaocar, Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim, SESA, Sporting Goa and Vasco, would play during this years’ season.

Goa, West Bengal and Kerala are the few states in India that form the locus of football in this country and is also home to several India’s I – League football clubs. Various Goans have even represented the country in football with 6 of them - Samir Naik, Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, Climax Lawrence, Mauricio Afonso, Roberto Fernandes and Bruno Coutinho even captaining the Indian team.

Força Goa – Indian Super League

Founded on 13th April 2014, Força Goa is one of the eight teams in the Indian Super League Football Franchise. It is co-owned by famous cricketer Virat Kohli, Venugopal Dhoot, Shrinivas Dempo and native businessman Dattaraj Salgaocar. Arthur Antunes Coimbra, also known as Zico, the well-known Brazilian Football player, is the team’s first manager and head coach. The club plays all its home matches at Fatorda Stadium in Margao, South Goa while training at Tilak Maidan in Vasco De Gama.

With the famous Bollywood actor, Varun Dhawan as a brand ambassador, Força Goa was the first Indian sports team to initiate a satellite TV Channel on Videocon D2H called FC Goa TV. Moreover, on 20th September 2014, the team announced that the Arsenal legend – Robert Pires had joined their club as a marquee player.

As of 15th October 2014, the current members of the club include Jan Seda, Debabrata Roy, Narayan Das, Rowilson Rodrigues, Youness Bengelloun, Peter Carvalho, Robert Pires, Alwyn George, Miguel Herlein, Edgar Marcelino, Holicharan Narzarym Bikramjit Singh, Gabriel Fernandes, Grégory Arnolin, Bruno Pinheiro, Mandar Rao Desai, Zohib Islam Amiri, Romeo Fernandes, Miroslav Slepicka, Laxmikant Kattimani, Prabir Das, Jewel Raja, Clifford Miranda, Ranti Martins, Tolgay Ozbey, Andre Santos and Pronay Halder.

Cricket in Goa

Even though Cricket is not as popular as Football in Goa, it is still a very important sport in the state. As of 2013, the Goa Cricket Team has played 144 times in the Ranji Trophy with 13 wins and 72 losses. Dr. Rajendra Prasad Stadium (built in 1954) in Margao and the District Institute of Education and Training Ground in Porvorim serve as the home ground for the cricket team. The famous Fatorda Stadium in Margao has also started hosting some international cricket matches in Goa. The state governing body for cricket in Goa is known as the Goa Cricket Association (GCA), affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Hockey in Goa

Here are some native Goans who have played the sports of Hockey on an international level during their career –

• Peter Paul Fernandes (Olympics for India 1936 and Olympics for Pakistan 1948)
• Lawrie Fernandes (Olympics 1948)
• Walter D’Souza (Olympics 1948)
• Maxie Vaz (Olympics 1948)
• Reginald Rodrigues (Olympics 1948)
• Michael Pereira (Olympics 1956)
• Vece Paes (Olympics 1972)
• Mervyn Fernandes (Olympics 1980)
• Marcellus Gomes (Atlanta Olympics).

Water Sports in Goa

Being a popular beach destination in India, there is no doubt that all types of water sports are very popular in the state. The National Institute of Water Sports (NIWS) in Panaji is the apex institution responsible for researching, consulting, training and educating on all areas related to water sports such as life saving, sailing, water skiing, boat handling, wind surfing, scuba diving, kayaking and river rafting. Established in July 1990, NIWS is a sponsored autonomous body under the Ministry of Tourism of India.

The organization has two main buildings – one, an 18 acre beach side plot in Panaji and another training ground at Caranzalem, both complete with modern water sports equipment. The institution handles a range of services including advising state government agencies on safety norms, organizing water sports awareness, water safety campaigns, preparation of feasibility studies and inspection of water sports centers to training them

Stadiums in Goa

Fatorda Stadium

Also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, this is the main multi-purpose stadium in the state, located at Margao and hosts a number of football matches along with some cricket matches as well. It is the only international stadium in Goa with a seating capacity of 24,500 people. Established in 1989, Fatorda Stadium is owned and managed by Sports Authority of India. The stadium was recently upgraded to match the latest FIFA specifications. Various services at the stadium include Broadcast room, arena lighting, natural turf, TV studio, Match delegates area, Player dressing rooms, medical rooms, dope control rooms, media working stations, mixed zone areas, press conference areas, multipurpose gymnasium, parking facilities and a swimming pool. Fatorda Stadium is considered as one of the most well kept stadiums in the country.

The stadium has always been a foundation for Indian Football and has even hosted a number of international games such as India’s qualifiers for AFC Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup. The stadium is also home to many prime Goan clubs including FC Goa, Churchill Brothers S.C., Dempo S.C., Sporting Clube de Goa and Salgaocar S.C. Even though the stadium was initially built to cater to only football games, however, recently it started hosting some international cricket matches as well.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Stadium

Built in 1954, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Stadium is the only stadium in Goa that specifically caters to cricket matches. Situated in Margao, it is also the home ground of the Goan Cricket Team with a capacity of 5000 people. The first match that was played over here was in 1967-68.

Tilak Maidan Stadium

Located in the town of Vasco De Gama, Tilak Maidan Stadium is another popular multi-purpose stadium in Goa, used mainly for football matches including I – League and Goan League. It is maintained by the Sport Authority of Goa with a capacity of 12,000 people. Moreover, just like Fatorda Stadium, this one has also been renovated to match the FIFA specifications. Tilak Maidan Stadium is mainly used by Dempo, Churchill Brothers, Salgaocar, FC Goa and Sporting Clube de Goa as a training ground.

Duler Stadium

Located in Mapusa, Duler Stadium is owned by Goa Football Association (GFA). It has the seating capacity of 8000 people and was the former home ground of the I – Leaguers who participated in the highest level of football in India.

International Sports Activities in Goa

Lusofonia Games in Goa 2014

The 3rd Lusofonia Games, a multi sport event that only takes place in Portuguese speaking countries and territories, took place in Goa from 18th January 2014 to 29th January 2014. The Chairman of Lusofonia Games 2014 was the ex- chief minister of Goa – Manohar Parrikar and the CEO was the secretary to the Government of Goa for Sports and Education – Keshav Chandra (IAS). These games were initially supposed to be held in 2013 however they were postponed to 2014. Due to this, Brazil, the biggest player in Lusofonia Games, did not send any their athletes. Only seven Brazilian athletes, independent of the organization of Brazil, participated in these games in Goa. These games had 97 medals for 9 sports, namely, Athletics, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Football, Judo, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Wushu and Volleyball.

Asian Beach Games

The Asian Beach Games is a multi-sport event that is held every two years representing athletes from various countries from Asia. These games are controlled by Olympic Council of Asia, with the first ever event held in Bali, Indonesia in 2008.

The games cater to a number of beach sports such as para gliding, beach water polo, marathon swimming, Beach athletics, beach football, beach handball, beach kabaddi, beach soccer, beach volleyball, beach woodball, beach wrestling, bodybuilding, dragon boat, sailing, surfing, jet skiing, water skiing and so on.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has been successful in getting the rights to host the 2018 Asian Beach Games, which will take place in Goa.

Also See: Sports Facilities in Panaji