Caitano Fernandes is the new Goa Football Association (GFA) president after he polled 83 votes in comparison to the 47 polled by his nearest rival – Savio Alemao, son of former president Churchill Alemao. Welvyn Menezes, CEO of Sporting Clube de Goa, finished with 29 votes.
Jonathan D’souza won the vice president elections for North Goa, while Anthony Pango won the elections for South Goa, polling 39 and 44 votes, respectively. Anthony Pango beat first-timer Filomeno Costa by 6 votes. Jonathan also managed to retain his executive committee member seat from Bardez.
The election to the new executive committee saw new faces and some old members making a comeback to determine the direction of football in Goa for the next four years.
Clubs from Bardez voted in for a change with all new members while Mormugao had a new member in Andrew Ferrao who finished with 58 votes in contrast to the 51 polled by Francisco Nunes. Adlear D’Cruz, secretary of Salgaocar FC finished third, polling 35 votes. Two members from Mormugao form part of the GFA Executive committee.
Ravindra Cabral and Constancio Paul Rodrigues were the two new faces from South Goa. Patwin Fizardo, Cosme Oliveira, Schubert Furtado and Anthony Leo Fernandes were elected from Salcette.
Omkar Vaigankar polled 56 votes to finish with the most votes from Bardez. Praveen Dabholkar won with 52 votes, Laksman Hadfadkar polled 49 votes and Udai Lingudkar got 37 votes.
“I am thrilled that I have won, and I promise to start work at GFA immediately. The Goa Professional League will start immediately, and I promise to finish all the tasks in my vision document. I will be happy if clubs keep a check on the progress of the work outlined by me and question me if they do not see progress,” stated Caitano, bursting into tears after being declared elected.
“I expected to win from the beginning because unlike others, I came with a vision and a plan to take football forward. I thank all the clubs who reposed their faith in me,” added Caitano.
“It was a tough contest, and I must thank all the clubs who stood by me. I may have lost, but I will continue with my good work for the game. Ultimately, it is the clubs that decide who they want to take football forward, and I will support the new committee if I am asked to,” said first-time contestant Filomeno Costa, after having lost to old-timer Anthony Pango by 6 votes.
“I am happy that I have won, and I am also happy for the other members who were elected from Bardez. I expect my colleagues who lost to continue working for the betterment of football,” stated Omkar Vaigankar, first timer from Bardez.
“It is good to be on the executive committee for the first time. I know I have plenty to offer and will certainly do so because the clubs have voted for me because they know my ability to keep my word,” said Andrew Ferrao, a first-timer from Mormugao zone.
“I am happy that Jonathan won,” stated Victor Fernandes, who polled 17 votes to finish third in the race to be vice president from North Goa.