The first ever Beach Soccer Championship is to take place in the seaside resort from February 7th to 10th
Beach Soccer arrives in India with the first ever Beach Soccer Championship. The first ever beach soccer event will take place in the beautiful seaside resort of Goa, with a tournament involving amateur team, but always, of course, with the support and under the sanctioning of Beach Soccer Worldwide.
The Goa Football Association (GFA) and The Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) are backing the officially sanctioned event, which will become a bi-annual feature in India. The tournament will see the participation of prominent players from Goa?s popular football clubs and other prominent teams from around the country.
This first edition of the tournament will be held in Goa, India from 7th to 10th February, 2013, in accordance with official sporting rules as laid out by BSWW. The tournament boasts of an exciting format one that involves, as beach soccer spirit entails, a fun surrounding, big spectacle and a lot of amusement both on and off the pitch.
Delighted to be associated with the event, Shrinivas Dempo, President, Goa Football Association stated, ?Considering the ready infrastructure available for Beach Soccer in Goa, and the available talent, we are excited to be associated with this sport. Beach Soccer will serve as a natural academy for our footballing community. Football has been declared Goa?s official sport and we are proud to give it a new dimension through this championship.?
Commenting on Beach Soccer in India, Dr Rufino Monteiro, Chairman, Goa Football Development Council said, ?We are delighted to be part of this new and exciting initiative and welcome Beach Soccer to India in this grand form. It offers local talent an excellent platform to display their skills and work towards making this a career opportunity. We would like to encourage more of such trendsetting events and increase the popularity of the format in the seasons to come. Goa is an ideal natural home, to launch this sport in this manner.”
Joan Cusco, Beach Soccer Worldwide Executive Vice-president, expressed, ?We are proud to see this sport take up in the traditional capital of football in India, and believe this is a giant step towards India?s participation in Beach Soccer. We hope to see more talent emerging from India, and look forward to India?s participation on the global stage. We congratulate the authorities in taking such pro-active steps towards this sport.”
For more information and team registration, please log on to www.beachsoccer.in or www.barefootfest.com. Registration is for free.