Goa Pro League: Vasco SC relegated for first time ever

Vasco Sports Club stand relegated from the Goa Professional League after relegation rivals Goa Velha SC won 1-0 against Wilred Leisure SC yesterday, the first relegation of the people’s club from the top tier of Goan football since its inception in 1951. The demise of Vasco SC, which was formed in 1951 by residents from the port town of Vasco da Gama in Goa which included the Portuguese garrison stationed there formed the club called Clube de Desportos Vasco da Gama, has been happening for years with the club struggling since the 1980s with patches of success in-between, especially around the millennium when the club made it to the old National Football League (now I-League).

This season the club officials hoped by roping in a sponsor in the NRB Group and a foreign coach in Serbian Davor Berber, but things went wrong from the start with the team never ever able to settle in with interim coach Richard Sanchez not given time and even under Subrata Bhattacharjee Jr the club wasn’t able to regroup and finished with only four points from 13 matches.

Interestingly though relegated from the local Goa Pro League, Vasco SC will play in the preliminary round of the 2nd Division I-League’s Group C alongside Dodsal FC (Mumbai), Eagles FC (Kerala), Hindustan FC (Delhi), Kalighat Milan Sangha (Kolkata), Luangmual FC (Mizoram), South United FC (Bangalore) and Southern Samity (Kolkata).

One can only hope for Vasco SC and Goan football that the club regroups next season in the Goan First Division to be back a year later in the Goa Pro League.