Benaulim, Dona Paula and Khandepar are the three Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) centres that emerged victorious among the 38 GFDC Grassroot Centres vying for top honours in the fourth edition of GFDC Rising Stars Inter-Centre League final held on Sunday, April 30 at the Bambolim Athletic Stadium.

The Goan Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Manohar Azgaonkar pointed out that kids can move forward though sports and education. “Football is in the blood of Goans and once upon a time its presence was felt only in Salcete but is now moving up north. I congratulate the winning teams and those who got defeated should work harder. The Chairman of GFDC along with his 120 odd coaches and team is working hard to take football forward and train the 4,500 trainees. Also seen working in the same direction is FC Goa and Churchill brothers SC,” said Azgaonkar.

“With the type of facilities being provided to the kids we need to see them making representation at the national and international level. The coaches should pledge to mould and make better players out of the trainees they have,” he added.

The Director of DSYA, V.M. Prabhudesai highlighted that GFDC has made a rapid and commendable progress in the field of football in the last five years. “Great work being done by Dr. Rufino and his team with utmost commitment. The technical director, Derryl Dsouza and his coaches have really groomed well the six finalist teams. I give full marks to GFDC and the work being done by them in football,” he said.

Dr. Rufino Monteiro, Chairman of GFDC expressed pleasure over the intensity and level of participation from trainees witnessed this year. He also urged corporates to come forward and support the game. “After nine long months the fourth edition of the football league has now come to an end. There is a need to train the boys and girls scientifically. In Khandepar it is mostly cricket that was played but our trainees from that centre proved that they can play football as well. This can be seen from the fact that the U-13 boys from that centre won in their respective category,” said Dr. Rufino. “We are proud that we have taken grassroot football to the interior far flung areas of the state where there were no training facilities for the children,” he added and pledged to work harder for the success of the programme.

The Member Secretary of GFDC, Aleixo Da Costa thanked his coaches and team GFDC at large for making the inter centre a grand success and said, “The coaches, technical staff and my team GFDC have done a great job. Few parents wanted to know how would signing an MOU with GFDC will help their kids in the long run. If everything goes well we will be partnering FC Goa and taking up unified grassroots development in the state.”

Valanka Alemao, the CEO of Churchill Brothers praised GFDC for their contribution in the game and congratulated the winners. “The grassroots program by GFDC is looking after the grassroots development of over 4500 kids in the state. Churchill Brothers SC is the only club to have 70 percent Goans playing in the I-League,” she said.

Among the other invitees present at the function were Akshay Tandon, President of FC Goa; Savio Messias, ex General Secretary of GFA; Lavino Rebello, Vice-President GFA; and GFDC Council members – Shantaram Naik, Liberata Mascarenhas, Agnelo Fonseca, Stanislaus de Souza, and Jovito Lopes.

Following are the winner and runners up teams

U-10 Boys
GFDC Benaulim (Winners), GFDC Arambol (Runners-Up)

U-13 Girls
GFDC Dona Paula (Winners), GFDC Collem (Runners-Up)

U-13 Boys
GFDC Khandepar (Winners), GFDC Mandrem (Runners-Up)

Prizes were also given away in the following categories

Most valuable player U-10 boys category: Daniel Fernandes (GFDC Benaulim)

Most valuable player U-13 boys category: Chandrakant Gadekar (GFDC Mandrem)

Most valuable player U-13 girls category: Karen Estrocio (GFDC Dona Paula)

Best goalkeeper U-10 boys category: Pranjal Harji (GFDC Arambol)

Best goalkeeper U-13 boys category: Astle Dias (GFDC Khandepar)

Best goalkeeper U-13 girl category: Saili Gujinal (GFDC Collem)

Outstanding player U-10 boys category: Ricky Fernanjdes (GFDC Arambol)

Outstanding player U-13 boys category: Sanket Gaude (GFDC Khandepar)

Outstanding player U-13 girls category: Tanvi Khedekar (GFDC Collem)

(Goa Football Development Council)