Dempo Sports Club have been drawn to meet local favourites Calangute Association in the opening match of the AWES Cup, a season-opening All-India Football Tournament, at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on September 1. All matches will kick off at 4pm and the final will be held on September 17.

Dempo Sports Club are among the four seeded teams in the tournament, based on their performance last season in the Goa Professional League where they finished third, behind champions Salgaocar FC and runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa. Fourth-placed FC Bardez is the other seeded team who were all drawn in the same pot while the draw was being carried out in the presence of participating team managers at Dempo House in Panjim on Monday.

All outstation teams were placed in the second pot, while the remainder of the teams were placed in the third pot. A group consists one team from each of the pots.

Dempo, placed in Group A, will kick-off their campaign with a tough encounter against Calangute Association on the opening day. Calangute, known to enjoy plenty of crowd support at Duler, will be no pushovers and will look for a positive start with Mumbai-based ONGC being the other team in the group.

Goa Professional League champions Salgaocar FC will face FC Goa’s developmental squad in their opening game on Saturday, September 2. With Viva Chennai the other team in the group, both teams will look forward to an encouraging result.

Only the group winners qualify for the knock-out semi-finals.

“The tournament will see some mouth-watering clashes, starting with the opening game between Dempo SC and Calangute Association. Both teams are known to draw good crowd support at Duler and we expect the supporters to show up in big numbers for the tournament,” said AWES secretary Jonathan de Souza.

GROUPS
Group A: Dempo SC, ONGC, Calangute Asociation
Group B: Salgaocar FC, Viva Chennai, FC Goa
Group C: FC Bardez, FC Pune City, Dempo Juniors
Group D: Sporting Clube de Goa, Gokulam FC Vasco SC

FIXTURES

September 1: Dempo SC vs Calangute Association
September 2: Salgaocar vs FC Goa
September 3: FC Bardez vs Dempo Juniors
September 4: Sporting Clube vs Vasco SC
September 5: ONGC vs Calangute Association
September 6: FC Goa vs Viva Chennai
September 7: Dempo Juniors vs FC Pune City
September 8: Vasco SC vs Gokulam FC
September 9: ONGC vs Dempo SC
September 10: Viva Chennai vs Salgaocar FC
September 11: FC Pune City vs FC Bardez
September 12: Gokulam FC vs Sporting Clube
September 13: Rest Day
September 14: Semifinal (Winner Group A vs Winner C)
September 15: Semifinal (Winner Group B vs Winner D)
September 16: Rest Day
September 17: Final

All matches at Duler Stadium, Mapusa at 16.00 IST.