Social Worker Altone D'Costa on Thursday announced a Mega Football festival in the Quepem constituency. The festival would include a tournament with prize money worth two lakh rupees.
The tournament was started on October 10 at the panchayat and municipality level. The winning teams from those levels will play a league tournament from November 13 and 14 at the Avedem panchayat ground. The final will be played on 21 November.
Altone D'Costa also announced that a football academy will soon be set up in the Quepem constituency to provide an opportunity for young footballers to further develop their skills and become better players.
He said that along with football, priority would be given to the development of other sports. "There is no politics behind organizing this competition. Politics and sports are two different subjects and the tournament was organized only to improve the quality of young footballers in the Quepem constituency," D'Costa said,
Football coach Sucorino Vaz was present as the chief guest. Speaking at the event, Coach Vaz spoke about how the quality of football in Goa has declined. He believes the main reason for this decline is that football is viewed only from an economic point of view.
"The values of football are not reflected on the field, hence it would be better to organize football competitions at the grassroots," he said.
He also stressed on the importance of the development of women's football in the state.