| Full name | Sporting Clube de Goa | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Flaming Oranje | ||
| Founded | 1999 as Cidade de Goa | ||
| Ground | Fatorda Stadium (Capacity: 27,300) |
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| Owner | City of Goa | ||
| Chairman | Peter Vaz | ||
| Manager | Ekendra Singh | ||
| League | I-League | ||
| 2011 | I-League 2nd Division, 2nd (Promoted) |
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| Website | Club home page | ||
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| Current season | |||
Sporting Clube de Goa is a association football club based in the Indian state of Goa who currently participate in the I-League which is India's number one league competition in the country. It is built on the lines of Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal and adopting a similar club crest.
The club Cidade de Goa (Portuguese for City of Goa) was purchased by Sporting's current owners and renamed as Sporting Clube de Goa in 1999.
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Sporting Clube de Goa, a professional football club, came into existence in 1999, when the public of Panjim decided to launch a football club after Cidade de Goa disbanded its football team. Thus, after Vasco Sports Club, Sporting became the second club of public shareholding in Goa. The club, built on the lines of Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal, has made rapid strides in the national circuit. Sporting shot to prominence by an impressive performance in the 2001-02 Federation Cup, the team made it to the last four after victories over stronger teams like East Bengal and Indian Bank.
Sporting made its debut in the 2003-04 season of the Indian National Football League Premier Division, and were on the verge of winning their first league championship but lost out on the last day when Dempo Sports Club pipped them to the title. Their season was marred by a horrific bus accident which ruled out 4 key players for the whole season, while several others were injured. However, led by Nigerian import Dudu Omagbemi, they managed to complete their matches in a very short span of time after being given a few weeks off so that their players could recover, and heroically came second ahead of traditional powerhouses East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Salgaocar and Mahindra United.[1] Sporting entered the finals of 2005 Federation Cup, and emerged as the runner-up. In the following season, the club reached the finals once again, but lost in penalty shoot-out to Mohun Bagan.[2] After getting relegated from the I-League in 2010 Sporting Goa participated in the 2011 I-League 2nd Division and won promotion by finishing in 2nd place.
The Sporting Crest is supposed to be almost an exact replica of the Sporting Clube de Portugal but not completely. One notable difference is the fact that on Sporting Portugal's crest it actually says Sporting Portugal while Sporting Goa's does not. Another difference is that Sporting Portugal's crest is colored in mostly dark green and yellow while the Sporting Goa crest is darkish green and white.
While the crest of Sporting Goa may be green and white the official colors of Sporting Goa are orange and white. In fact the club nickname is the flaming orange. On the home kits Sporting wear an orange jersey with white shorts and orange socks while the away kit is all white but with an orange collar.
Sense its beginning Sporting Goa have played at the Fatorda Stadium in Margao, Goa. During the 2011 I-League 2nd Division however because the 2nd Tier was a neutral venue league Sporting Goa had to call Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong as home for one season but now sense they are back in the I-League they will again use Fatorda as home.
Sporting Clube de Goa launched its mascot named 'Zumba', besides its theme song 'Flaming Orange', composed by Goa's leading band Sky High with pomp. [3]
As of October 20, 2011
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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