SFA began functioning in June 1999.[13] Sesa Football Academy was the champion of the
Goa First Division League in 2018–19, gaining its promotion to the Goa Professional League.
History
Sesa Football Academy is the successor of Sesa Sports Club, which was originally founded on 4 September 1960.[5][14] In 1988, British coach
Bob Bootland took charge of Sesa.[15][16] SFA was later established in 1999 with a vision of becoming a premier academy in India, producing footballers for the
Indian national team from the state of
Goa.[17] The academy identifies talented youngsters with the passion for football, inducts them into the residential program at the academy, and over a period of four years nurtures and develops them as professional footballers and well-disciplined citizens.
Till date, more than 150 players have benefited from SFA's programs, out of which some have played internationally and many others have represented various prestigious clubs of the country. The team was later managed by legendary Indian coach
Armando Colaco.[22][23] Nigerian
Clifford Chukwuma also managed SESA.[24][25]
Football programs
Residential academies
Affiliated with the
Goa Football Association (GFA), Sesa Football Academy presently runs two fully residential campuses.[26]
The
Sanquelim campus, with 36 players, is a four-year residential program admitting 18 students every two years. It is built on the Sanquelim reclaimed mine site, with a football ground, well-established gymnasium, and a complete hostel facility along with a recreation center.
Sirsaim campus
To further nurture the young talent with football training and to provide a disciplined regime, new infrastructure at
Sirsaim was inaugurated on 14 February 2010.[27] Constructed at an approximate cost of Rs. 4 crores, it has state of the art infrastructure at international standards. The Sirsaim academy currently has 30 trainees in its four-year residential program, with a batch of 15 trainees admitted every two years.
Staff
To guide the technical aspects of both academies,
Spanish coach Eduard Batlle Basart was roped in as technical director for Sesa Football Academy in 2017.[28] He previously worked with the youth teams at European giants
Manchester United and
FC Barcelona.
SFA launched Vedanta Football Schools in 2012 to identify boys from nearby schools under the age of 14, and provide them non-residential football training.[30] This is in line with the larger vision of community development in the areas where Vedanta operates.
Vedanta Women's League
Working towards the aim of women empowerment through football, Sesa Football Academy launched the Vedanta Women's League in 2017, with the support of
Goa Football Association. The league was inaugurated by then Goa Chief Minister
Manohar Parrikar in the presence of eminent women's football legends.
The Vedanta Women's League has since completed two seasons, with over 200 girls given an opportunity to play football. The winner of the 2018 edition, Panjim Footballers, went on to play in the
Indian Women's League as the sole team from Goa.
Home ground
Sircaim is home to one of the two Sesa Football Academy premises in Goa, the other being at Sanquelim.[31] The
Sesa Football Academy Ground is located at Sircaim and use for both training and league matches.[32]
Sesa also used
Duler Stadium in
Mapusa for some of their Goa Professional League matches.[33]
^Mergulhao, Marcus (29 June 2014).
"Visitacao passes away". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Panaji: The Times of India. TNN.
Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2015.