ISL team FC Goa to participate in the Goa Professional League

AFTER FINISHINNG ON THE LAST POSITION in ISL 3, FC Goa are in plans to participate in the popular Goa Pro League. Last year, FC Bardez, entered Goa's top most tier, in the same fashion. 

As reported in the Times of India, the club’s chief of operations, Rahul Rodrigues, wrote in a letter to GFA president Elvis Gomes last week stating, 

“As a club, we continue to strive to achieve our objectives of producing and nurturing Goan talent and we are confident that by investing in this team, we will take a step in the right direction. It will allow us to provide a natural pathway for current and future generations of footballers looking to play professionally,” 

Rodrigues, in the letter further stated,

"With your approval, we intend to build a squad comprising of some of the best young and emerging talent in the state and allow them to test themselves against a high standard of opposition. We also see this as an opportunity for us to test players who may represent our first team in the ISL during the next edition,” said Rodrigues.

With the merger of the ISL and the I-league still unclear, FC Goa might be taking steps to enter Indian football for a long term and build a reserve or feeder team for the top most tier.

Rodrigues also said,

“With the calibre of the players we intend to draft into this team, we are bound to help increase the levels of quality within the league and also attract a good fan following. We aim to create a competitive environment where youngsters coming through the various age groups will get the opportunity to be part of a professional environment and play alongside the more experienced players,” 

“Akshay Tandon, president of FC Goa, recently toured Europe and visited top clubs. The idea of a reserve team appealed to him,” Rodrigues continued stating in the letter,