Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the State government will rope in private football clubs to maintain government football grounds which are in disuse or bad shape in a bid to give more boost to football.
Sawant was speaking at the unveiling of the official host city logo of the state for the upcoming FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2022 which will be played at the Jawaharlal Stadium in Fatorda in South Goa from October 11 to 26.
He said the government was not in a position to maintain all its grounds and the football clubs could definitely help the State in this endeavour on a sharing basis. These grounds, he said, could be used by the local community and youth to take football forward.
Sawant said even before the State could express its desire to host the U-17 WC in Goa, he got a call from Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur whether Goa would be willing to be one of the host States for the tournament and he immediately said yes.
The Chief Minister, along with Sports Minister Govind Gaude, witnessed the colourful and grand launch of the host city logo at the Durbar Hall of Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula, where top dignitaries were present.
Sawant said today's logo launch programme in Goa was the best among the three host States -- the other two being Odisha and Maharashtra.
The State is all geared to host the prestigious U-17 Women's World Cup, two semifinals of which will be held at Fatorda. In all, 16 teams are vying for the prestigious cup.
Today's programme saw the presence of MLAs, including Churchill Alemao, Digambar Kamat and Rodolfo Fernandes, sports associations, top government officials and footballers.
The event was organised by the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, Sports Authority of Goa and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the FIFA U-17 Women's WC.