Beach football set to launch in India

Mumbai, Jan 21 (IANS): Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) announced that it is organising India’s first professional Beach Soccer Championship in Goa.

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. The tournament will see the participation of prominent players from Goa’s popular football clubs and other prominent teams from around the country.

The first edition will be held from Feb 7-10 in accordance with official sporting rules as laid out by BSWW.

The teams will comprise of 10 players each – five on field and five as substitutes. The duration of play will include three periods of 12 minutes each with a break of three minutes. In case of a tie, there’s a three minute extra time before the penalty shoot-out. The tournament will see teams battle it out for a prize of Rs.2 lakh.

Mumbai-based TransStadia is investing and managing the event to introduce and develop the sport that is already played in 75 countries within the six FIFA confederation zones.

Over 50 teams from across the country are set to descend on Goa’s beaches and play the sport that was on born on the beaches of Brazil. Four world-class pitches and a world-class arena will be set up to give spectators an exhilarating experience, using the T-Box modular stadia technology.

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 registering your team, log on to www.beachsoccer.in or www.barefootfest.com. Registration is for free.