Panjim, November, 2019: After the success of the inaugural edition of the Little Gaurs League, the Forca Goa Foundation is all set to launch the second edition of Goa’s biggest Baby League, the Little Gaurs League 19-20.

This edition of the league is looking to build on the base from last year, and include more teams, more age categories and cover a wider geographical area. Jump Networks Limited (JUMPNET), a leading technology company, has come on board as the Principal Sponsor to make the league bigger as well as strengthen our belief and vision for grassroots development.

“The Little Gaurs League (LGL) 19-20 will be held in three zones; North Goa, Central Goa(Vasco) and South Goa. The LGL will allow registrations in the U6, U8 and U10 age categories, while simultaneously also conducting an exclusive U12 League for girls”, explained Nathanial D’Costa, Football Development Manager, Forca Goa Foundation.

The unique feature of the LGL is that it’s open for anyone to participate be it schools, academies, clubs or communities. The idea is to allow everyone to get involved and form teams and participate.

Added Derrick Pereira, Technical Director, FC Goa, “The reason to have this Little Gaur League is to create more opportunities for young talent. We are focussing more on grassroots as we feel it is the right age to develop footballers. We have expanded our reach this year so that more children have access to football. Today footballing talent have more access to quality training compared to a decade or two ago. Young players need to have access to tournaments from a very young age and this Little Gaur League is offering just that. We are now on the right path. ” He also added, “Football training begins not on the pitch but at home. Parents are the child’s first coaches.”  

Last season’s edition saw 36 teams participate across the two zones and had over 350 children participate. This year we’re hoping to have 90 teams register and have over 900 children participated in Goa’s biggest baby league. The League will be following the format prescribed by the All India Football Federation in the Golden Baby Leagues Handbook.

The Little Gaurs League will run from November to March with match days every week. Winners of each zone will then be participating in a final round to decide the state champions of Goa in each age category.

The Foundation believes that by providing children regular access to competitive football, children can hone their match skills and develop into better footballers. FIFA and global football development reports show that children who have access to baby leagues tend to develop faster and have an edge over others. Superstar footballers like Luis Suarez and Alexis Sanchez have credited their success to their participation in Baby leagues when they were younger.

In addition to supporting our league, JUMPNET, will partner with the Foundation to engage with communities and develop coaches in Goa.

Said Megha Desai, Head – Marketing, Jump Networks Ltd, “We have been on this journey with Forca Goa Foundation (FGF) for a while now. We share the same passion and vision as FGF. It fits perfects with what we want to do which is to connect with communities. At our core we are a technology platform that enables streaming high definition content on a low bandwidth. FGF also works with communities and offers them access to sports and that’s one of the key reasons we decided to associate with the foundation.”

Along with the holistic development of the sport, with this partnership, the company also hopes to positively impact the remote areas of Goa through the initiatives of the Forca Goa Foundation.