Chandigarh will face West Bengal in the other match of the day to be played simultaneously at the Rosary ground, Navelim.
The Santosh Trophy, which was one of the most prestigious tournaments in the Indian football calendar, makes a return to Goa after a gap of 21 years. Goa last won the trophy in 2009 with captain and goalkeeper Felix D’Souza leading from the front as Goa emerged champions without conceding a goal.
A meeting of the organizing committee of the Santosh Trophy was held on Wednesday at the office of the Chief Secretary at the Secretariat. Chaired by the Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, the meeting was attended by B.R. Singh (Secretary Sports), V.M. Prabhudesai (Executive Director SAG), Nila Mohanan (Collector North) and Roncan Pereira (attending on behalf of Swapnil Naik, Collector South). The Chief Secretary also released the draw on the occasion.
Also present were Schubert Pereira (VP South, GFA), Lavinio Rebello (VP North, GFA), Kartik Kashyap (SP North), Chandan Choudhari (SP South), Devesh Kumar (SP Traffic), Dr. Sanjeev Dalvi (Director of Health Department), Ashok Menon (Director of Fire Services), Welvin Menezes (Hon. General Secretary, GFA), Angelo Albuquerque (Member GFA), Prakash Naik (Member GFA), Anthony Leo Fernandes (Member GFA), Bishut Themudo (Member GFA), Francis D’Souza (Member GFA), John Silva (Member GFA), Arnaldo Costa (Member GFA), Anthony John D’Costa (Member GFA), Patrick D’Souza (Member GFA), Raju Banaulikar (Member GFA), Anthony Pango (Member GFA) and Sanjiv Nagvenkar (Member GFA).
Speaking after the fruitful meeting, Welvin Menezes said that the GFA was geared up to host a successful tournament. “The meeting was very fruitful. We are thankful to the Chief Secretary, the Executive Director of SAG and all other government departments who pledged their support and cooperation to the Goa Football Association in organizing the Santosh Trophy. GFA is fully committed to hosting a good tournament for the fans and the public and we hope the crowd rally behind Goa and help us win the Santosh Trophy on home soil,” he said.
The teams that have qualified for the final round are Services, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Goa, Chandigarh, all placed in Group A while Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Railways and Punjab make up Group B. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals.
Bambolim and Tilak Maidan would be the two main venues for the matches with Bambolim hosting all of Goa’s matches, while the semifinals and final will be played under lights at Bambolim.
The final has been scheduled for March 26.