Goa Pro League to begin with a battle between Velsao SCC & Guardian Angel SC on 6th December

Ravish Narvekar

FanCode to broadcast matches live on their OTT app, while CAM Group will be the title sponsor for the GPL.

The Goa Football Association officially launched the Goa Professional League 2022-23 in the presence of their President Dr. Caitano Fernandes, Vice-Presidents Anthony Pango and Jonathan De Souza along with all the Executive Committee members at the Hotel Grande Delmon, Panjim on 23rd November 2022. The Captains and Officials of all the Goa Pro League clubs were also present for the event which also unveiled the trophy for the upcoming GPL season.

CAM Group of Companies was also officially announced as a title sponsor for the league and the same will be called the CAM Goa Professional League 22-23. GFA President Dr. Caitano who is also the Director of the CAM Group addressed the event saying “It is a great honour to me as a title sponsor of the Goa Professional League. This time we have made some changes in the pattern of the league. Though we are a little bit late, I am happy that we are finally starting the league. Let’s enjoy the football.”

“We are happy to announce prize money of 5 lakhs for the winners and 3 lakhs for the runners-up of the Goa Professional League this season. The league will be played in two stages, first round robin between all the 11 teams and after the that top six will play for Championship and bottom six will play to avoid the relegation.” The GFA Vice-President, South Goa, Pango made the official announcement at the launch event.

The fixture of the league was also drawn at the event as the league will begin on 6th December with the opening match between Velsao Sports & Cultural Club and Guardian Angel Sports Club. The first round will feature match between FC Goa and Sporting Clube de Goa, Salgaocar FC and Sesa FA, Panjim Footballers and Dempo SC, and Vasco SC and Churchill Brothers SC on 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th December respectively.

GFA Vice-President, North Goa, Jonathan announced the Broadcaster of the league at the event as he said, “FanCode come on board as a broadcaster of the league. And for the first time, they will be paying us which will cover the production cost. They are a very reputed brand. Recently they broadcasted cricket series between India and New Zealand.”

“We request all the coaches and team officials of the league to please download the app and watch the game live. The production team has launched an app where each team will get a login ID and password. With those credentials, coaches or officials will be able to download the match and will get access to all the statistics. They can use those for analyzing and scouting purposes. This is something that has been never done before.” Jonathan informed during the press conference held after the GPL launched event.

GFA also announced its partnership with Jetway ISP who will be the official internet partners of the League. “Jetway ISP is excited to partner with the Goa Professional League which provides a platform for young talent to shine. We will work with the GFA to give fans the most enjoyable experience in catching all the football action on FanCode”, said Newton Luis Fernandes, Director of FastJet Telecom Pvt. Ltd, known as Jetway.

The Goan football has been plagued with a match-fixing allegation from the last three seasons as a few of their matches were red-flagged by GFA’s integrity partners Genius Sports. The previous Executive Committee had agreed to hand over the probe into alleged match-fixing to the crime branch of Goa Police.

“The entire GFA committee has taken a very strong stand against match-fixing. We want to curb this menace as soon as possible. We have already written it to the All India Football Federation. The AIFF will be sending their Integrity Officer who will conduct a workshop in the next week. It will be compulsory for all the registered players and officials of the club. They will also have to sign the Integrity form. We are in the process of appointing the Integrity officer. We are talking with one of the retired police officers. If he agrees, then we will appoint him. Genius Sports are our Integrity partners and they will intimate us about any red-flagged matches or any suspicious betting patterns. We are very serious about this. We want to end this menace as soon as possible.” Jonathan concluded.