Goa Professional League

This article is about the men's football league. For the women's football league, see GFA Vedanta Women's League.

Goa Professional League

File:GPL official logo.png
Organising body	Goa Football Association
Founded	1977–97 (as Goa Super Division) 1951–77 (as Goa First Division)
Country	India
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	4
Promotion to	I-League 2nd Division
Relegation to	GFA 1st Division
League cup(s)	Goa Police Cup AWES Cup Charity Cup
Current champions	Dempo (15th title)
Most championships	Salgaocar (21 titles)
TV partners	Amuzi (live streaming)
Website	Pro League
Current: 2021–22

The Goa Professional League (abbreviated as GPL, also known as the Selvel Goa Pro League for sponsorship reasons) is the premier state-level football league in Goa, India. It is organised by the Goa Football Association.

History

The official league in Goa, called the First division, began in 1951 and was organised by the Conselho de Desportos. The first Llague champion of Goa was Clube Desportivo de Chinchinim who beat Football Club of Siolim, to clinch the title.

League continued under the aegis of the Conselho de Desportos till the season of 1958–59, with Clube de Desportos de Vasco da Gama taking the title that year. In 1959, the Goa Football Association was established as the official administrative body of football and from that season onwards the league was conducted by GFA. The 1959–60 League was conducted by the GFA and Clube Independente de Margao emerged champions.

Until the 1968–69 season, the First division league was considered as senior. The GFA introduced "Senior division league" in 1969–70, which used to be the topmost division, but later was abandoned.

In 1970–71 season, apart from the Senior division league, there came into existence the First division league, which was split into two groups, namely the North Zone and South Zone. While the North Zone consisted of teams from Ilhas and Bardez, the South Zone accommodated teams from Mormugao and Salcete.

From the around 24 teams in the Second division, just one would make it to the First division, while there were around 60 teams battling it out in the Third division, of which two teams make it to the next stage. Subsequently, the teams finishing at the bottom of their respective pool are relegated to lower divisions.

In 1977 Goa Football Association introduced the Super league, with Salgaocar Sports Club clinching the title. With football continuing to develop at a fast pace, GFA decided it was time to push the game onto a higher platform. Goa emerged as the first State ever in the country, to go fully professional with the game.

The first Professional league was launched in the 1998–99 season. The five top teams of the 1997–98 Super League – Churchill Brothers, Salgaocar, Dempo, Vasco and VLM SC – automatically qualified for the Pro league.

The Professional league was expanded to six teams from the 2000–2001 season, after the GFA increased the participating number and competitiveness factor. Since 2002 the league was played as an eight-team format with home-and-away fixtures, 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.

Competition structure

Tier	Division
1 (4 on Indian football pyramid)	Goa Professional League
2 (5 on Indian football pyramid)	GFA First Division League
3 (6 on Indian football pyramid)	GFA Second Division League

Current clubs

The following 12 clubs competed in the GPL during the 2020–21 season.

Team	City/Town
Calangute Association	Calangute
Churchill Brothers	Salcete
Youth Club of Manora	Manora
Dempo	Panaji
FC Goa Reserves	Panaji
Guardian Angel F.C.	Curchorem
Panjim Footballers	Panaji
Salgaocar	Vasco da Gama
SESA Football Academy	Sircaim
Sporting Clube de Goa	Panaji
Vasco	Vasco da Gama
Velsao Sports & Cultural Club	Velsao

Managers and foreign players

Team	Manager	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3
Calangute Association	Valentine Ezeugo	Mark Harrison	Kouame Kossonou
Churchill Brothers	Norberto Gonsalves
Dempo	Samir Naik
FC Goa Reserves	Deggie Cardozo
Guardian Angel	Riston Rodrigues	Musah Bambatelli	Issac Nuha
Panjim Footballers	Alex Alvares
Salgaocar	Anthony Levino Pereira
Sesa Football Academy	Charles Dias
Sporting Clube de Goa	Savio Vaz	Philip Odogwu
Vasco	Micky Fernandes
Velsao Sports & Cultural Club	Jude Barreto
Youth Club of Manora	Roque Carneiro

List of champions

Season	Champion
1998	Salgaocar
1999	Churchill Brothers
2000	Churchill Brothers
2001	Churchill Brothers
2002	Salgaocar
2003	Salgaocar
2004	Salgaocar
2005	Dempo
2006	Sporting Goa
2007	Dempo
2008	Churchill Brothers
2009	Dempo
2010	Dempo
2011	Dempo
2012–13	Salgaocar
2013–14	Sporting Goa
2014–15	Salgaocar
2015–16	Sporting Goa
2016–17	Salgaocar
2017–18	Sporting Goa
2018–19	FC Goa Reserves
2019–20	Sporting Goa and Churchill Brothers
2020–21	Sporting Goa
2021–22	Dempo

For past winners at this level before 1997, see: List of Goan State Football Champions.

Top scorers

Season	Top scorer	Club	Goals
2011	Koko Sakibo Victorino Fernandes	Dempo S.C. Sporting Clube de Goa	6
2012–13	Juanfri	Sporting Clube de Goa	3
2013–14	Melwin Fernandes	Wilred Leisure	13
2014–15	Victorino Fernandes	Sporting Clube de Goa	11
2015–16	Odafa Okolie	Sporting Clube de Goa	11
2016–17	Liston Colaco	Salgaocar F.C.	13
2017–18	Joel Sunday	Salgaocar F.C.	20
2018–19	Devendra Murgaonkar	Salgaocar F.C.	20
2019–20	Marcus Masceranhas	Sporting Clube de Goa	14
2020–21	Marcus Masceranhas	Sporting Clube de Goa	9

See also

• Mumbai Football League
• Bangalore Super Division
• Kerala Premier League

External links

• Goa Professional League 2015–16 Fixtures
• Goa Football Association website