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Goa FA clear proposal for new dressing rooms and VIP Lounges at Duler Football Stadium

Goa Football Association (GFA)

The Executive Committee of the Goa Football Association which met under the Chairmanship of the President, Mr. Elvis Gomes at Panaji today cleared the much awaited proposal for construction of two dressing rooms meeting International specifications and two VIP Lounges at Duler Football Stadium. The President, Mr. Elvis Gomes said that Duler Stadium will now be able to host more professional teams as the impediment of non availability of good dressing rooms will be removed with work for the same scheduled to start within a month and the project is expected to be complete within the next six months. Two VIP air conditioned lounges that will have conferencing facility and a viewing balcony will be offered to the club managements that play their respective matches at the stadium.

The Committee declared the family of late Mr. Kevoy Fernandes, a budding referee and coach whose life was cut short due to a tragic accident, as the beneficiary of the Charity Match that will be played between Salgaocar FC and FC Bardez on 27.08.2017 at 6 pm under floodlights.

An Organizing Committee for the Sub Junior National Football Championship 2017-18 for Boys which will be held at Duler in Mapusa has been appointed with the following members:
Chairman: Mr. Lavinio Rebello
Deputy Chairman: Mr. Sanjiv Nagvenkar
Secretary: Mr. Patrick D’Souza
Joint Secretary: Mr. Angelo Albuquerque
Members: Adv. Dominic Pereira, Mr. Gaja Kerkar, Mr. Santosh Bandodkar, and Mr. Franky Viegas.

It was decided that the Taca Goa U-20 (Division One) League 2017-18 will commence from 18.09.2017, before the Goa Professional League scheduled to start from the first week of October.

In order to adopt the pyramid system, which was mooted some years ago, after experts had pointed out the flaw in the present formats, the committee finally approved the plan for 12 teams in the Goa Professional League, 14 teams in the GFA First Division League, 40 teams in the GFA Second Division League, and the remaining in the GFA Third Division League. “This arrangement is perfect for orderly movement of teams upward. Earlier, there were more teams at the top and fewer teams at the First Division, which was criticized by many footballing experts. With this development, we have overcome the abnormality,” stated Mr. Elvis Gomes.

The Committee reviewed the recently held Discover Football-GFA Football Tournament and Festival for Girls. The Committee also reviewed the conduct of certain players who despite earlier warnings, continued to play in various Inter Village Tournaments despite being under suspension. A penalty of Rs. 15,000/- has been imposed on the said players in lieu of disqualification from playing for a period of one year.

Meanwhile, the selection of the team for the Sub Junior National Football Championship 2017-18 for Girls to be held in Manipur shall be held on 17.08.2017 and 18.08.2017 at the Artificial Turf outside the PJN Stadium in Fatorda as decided by the Committee. Girls born between 01.01.2003 and 31.12.2005 would be eligible for the selections.

Meanwhile, the new referees’ kit for the year 2017-18 was launched at a Special Function by the GFA. The referees’ will be entitled to match kit, practice kit, and traveling kit. The President stated that GFA is delivering for all departments of the game including referees, which earlier had not got the required attention. He said that the New Referees’ Development Program is nearing completion with 48 new referees’ due for induction with match practice this season. He said that another 50 referees would be drawn from various colleges and Goa University with an encouragement to make it as a career option.

(Goa Football Association)