Breaking News: GFA named Norberto Gonsalves as the head coach for Goa Santosh Trophy team

Image: Salgaocar FC

Ravish Narvekar

Newly elected Ex-Co member Omkar Vaigankar appointed as a Team Manager of the state team.

Goa Football Association has appointed Norberto Gonsalves as the head coach of the Goa Santosh Trophy Team. Team Goa are clustered in Group III with host Assam, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

"We have appointed Norberto Gonsalves as a head coach and our executive committee member Omkar Vaigankar will the team manager. We are waiting for confirmation on assistant coach as the head coach will decide the same." Deputy Chairman, GFA Technical Committee, Cosme Oliveira confirmed to the-kickoff.com

“I am pleased to serve my state once again. It is a collective decision of the committee (GFA) to appoint me as a head coach and it is a great honour for me. I will give my best to get back the trophy to Goa.” Norbert expressed his feeling following his appointment as the head coach of the state team.

Newly elected Executive Committee Member Omkar Vaigankar has been named as a team manager for the upcoming Senior National Football Championship 2022-23.

The young and energetic Ex-co member was happy following his state duty call as he expressed saying "I’m obviously very happy and ecstatic to have been appointed for this role. No doubt, it’s a big challenge ahead but we’re gonna make sure the team is all charged up and ready to go all guns blazing right from the first minute."

The Western side is scheduled to play their opening match against host Assam on 28th December 2022 at Kokrajhar Stadium followed by Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tamilnadu on 30th December, 1st, 3rd and 5th January 2023 respectively.

The Santosh Trophy will be played in a new format which will see 36 states competing across six groups. The six group winners along with the three best runners-up teams will join the host state along with Railways and Services in the final round.

The former Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa coach have previously served the state in the Senior National Football Championship in the 2002 edition in Manipur where the West Coastal side lost in the semifinals against the host in the tie-breaker.

“This will be my second stint with the state team. Previously, I had coached the Goa team in 2002 and we lost in the semis. This time my target will be to improve my previous result and win the Championship.” Gonsalves stated in confidence.

Goa has previously won the championship on five occasions, winning it in 1982-83, 1983-84, 1989-90, 2005-06 and 2008-09, whereas they were runners-up eight times. Meanwhile, the Western state suffered a big blow in the last season when they lost to Gujarat in the West Zone Qualifiers and failed to qualify for the main tournament for the first time in the Championship history.