Benfica officials arrive in Goa, govt keen to appoint technical director from Portuguese club

Panaji: The state govt has started discussions with SL Benfica about a collaboration and the Portuguese football giants, for a start, are likely to depute one of its own as the technical director.
Since declaring football as the state sport in 2012, the state govt launched the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) and tasked it with development of the sport at the grassroots and youth level. The council has an annual budget of Rs 6 crore, but for the last five years, there is no technical director in place. Since Arjuna Award winner Brahmanand Shankhwalkar’s term ended in August 2023, the council also functions without a chairperson and members.
At the GFDC Football Summit in Oct last year, the need to appoint a technical director was listed on top of the priority list.
“The govt will appoint a technical director from Benfica, not just for GFDC but the entire state,” a senior official told TOI on Tuesday. “Whether it’s the Goa Football Association (GFA) or professional clubs, the TD will be on hand to advice everyone.”
The appointment of a technical director was made by Arvind Khutkar, director, directorate of sports and youth affairs (DSYA) during a meeting between Benfica officials and stakeholders in Bambolim on Tuesday.
Benfica officials Miguel Reis (global expansion coordinator), Davide Gomes (international technical manager) and Lourenço Ferreira (global expansion developer) are in Goa on an official visit. They saw the sports infrastructure available in Goa, presented their views before stakeholders, and met chief minister Pramod Sawant and sports minister Govind Gaude later in the day.
Goa Football Association (GFA) president Caitano Fernandes, Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) executive director Geeta Nagvekar and Arjuna Award winner Bruno Coutinho were also in attendance at the meeting.
“The appointment of a foreign technical director is welcome news but for the development of Goan football, that alone will not be enough,” said another official. “Goa needs more investments at the grassroots level, besides support for clubs and association.”
The arrival of Benfica officials here follows an invitation from the state delegation which visited the campus of the two-time European champions earlier this year.
Benfica are among the leading clubs in Europe and run the world’s most profitable football academy. Some of the club’s big-money exports include Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias (both Manchester City), Joao Cancelo (Al Hilal), Joao Neves, Renato Sanches, Goncalo Ramos (all PSG), Joao Felix (AC Milan) and Nelson Semedo (Wolverhampton Wanderers).
Benfica has a connection with Goa, having been the last foreign team to visit the state for friendlies, before Liberation in December 1961. In the summer of 1960, Benfica landed here with a promising football team that won all three friendlies that they played against Military Selection (2-1), Goa (4-0) and Goa Selection (1-0).