The Goa Football Association ( GFA) is the governing body of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. It is affiliated with the

All India Football Federation All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation. It is affiliated wit ...

, the national governing body. It sends state teams for Santosh Trophy and Senior Women's National Football Championship. Caitano Fernandes heads GFA as its current president. The GFA's premier competition is the

Goa Professional League The Goa Football League is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of Goa, organised by the Goa Football Association as part of the state leagues. It was formed in 1951 as the Goa Primeira Divisão or Goa First Division, and ...

History

The Goa Football Association () was founded on 22 December 1959. The federation conducted its first Goan State League in 1959 also under the name of ''Goa Primeira Divisão'' or ''Goa First Division'' with Clube Independente de Margao becoming the champions. The GFA then started the Goa Senior League in 1969, which was supposed to be the new first division of Goa, but later disbanded the league. Then for the 1970-71 season they turned the league into a two division First Division, North Division and South Division. They then introduced the a Second Division and Third Division from 1971-72. The GFA then started the Goa Super Division in 1977 with Salgaocar S.C. being the champions. With football globally continuing to develop at a fast pace, the Goa Football Association decided it was time to push the game onto a higher platform. Goa emerged as the first state in India to go professional. The GFA then revamped the National State League by forming the Goa Professional League in 1997 with Salgaocar coming out as champions. The Professional League was expanded to six teams from the 2000-01 season, after the GFA increased the competitiveness factor. Since 2002 the league was played as an eight team home-and-away format, making it 14 matches for each club. The GFA then announced that the 2011 season would be played with 10 teams under a new format.

State teams

Men

Goa football team The Goa football team is an Indian football team representing the state of Goa in Indian state football competitions including the Santosh Trophy. Goa made their Santosh Trophy debut in the 1964 Madras Nationals. They have appeared in the Sant ...

* Goa under-20 football team * Goa under-15 football team * Goa under-13 football team

Women

* Goa women's football team * Goa women's under-19 football team * Goa women's under-17 football team

Affiliated district associations

Both districts of

are affiliated with the Goa Football Association.

Competitions

Club Level

Men's Senior

* GFA First Division League * GFA Second Division League * GFA Third Division League * Bandodkar Trophy * Goa Police Cup

Women's Senior

* Goa Women's League

Youth

*GFA U-18 League Division I *GFA U-18 League Division II *GFA U-15 League Division I *GFA U-13 League Division I *GFA U-13 League Division II

Futsal

*Late Jaju GFA Futsal League

Goa Football League pyramid

The Goa Football League consists of the

as highest level, followed by the lower divisions.

References

External links

* *
Goa Football Association
at the

AIFF AIFF may refer to: * Audio Interchange File Format * All India Football Federation, the national governing body of Association football in India Film festivals * Addis International Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia * Alexandria Internation ...

{{Authority control Football governing bodies in India 1959 establishments in Portuguese India Sports organizations established in 1959 Organisations based in Panaji