Salgaocar FC to cease senior team operations

Published at :June 28, 2023 at 9:51 PM

Modified at :June 29, 2023 at 1:09 AM

Salgaocar FC were the first Goan club to win the Federation Cup and Durand Cup.

Salgaocar FC are not going to send their senior team to participate in the Goa Pro League, the top-tier of Goan football. It is the first time such an event is occurring since the club’s inception back in 1956. Instead, the club has only submitted forms for the U-13 and U-15 teams which also shuts shop on their U-18 and U-20 squads.

A senior club official confirmed the news while speaking to The Times of India. Salgaocar FC has a rich history and the shutting down of their senior team is an outcome which is sending shockwaves across Goan and Indian football for that matter. They are the first Goan club to ever win the Federation Cup in 1988 and also the first from Goa to lift the Durand Cup in 1999. Expectedly, people who support the Greens have a deep connection with the club and seeing them cease their senior team operations is hugely disappointing.

A disappointing end

India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, hosted the club to a grand reception and thus the outfit became the first-ever football club to be invited by a PM of India, after the liberation of Goa in 1961. In the year 1999, when Salgaocar FC won the Durand Cup, they also won the National Football League, becoming the first Goan club to do so.

Salgaocar FC opted out of the I-League after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) roadmap made the Indian Super League the top-tier competition of the Indian football league pyramid. Since then, there was a shaky feeling amongst the Goan football enthusiasts about the senior team of the Greens.

“The entry form is a club’s way to confirm their choice of competition for the season. It is obvious now that Salgaocar is not participating in the Goa Pro League and other competitions,” a Goa Football Association official said. It seems like Salgaocar FC are set to focus only on their developmental squads in future as they are also set to continue with their Community Outreach Programme meant for U-10 children.