Panaji: The Goa Football Association honoured Shivanand Salgaocar with Lifetime Achievement Award for Administrator for his contribution to football administration at its annual Awards Night held at the Taleigao Community Hall on Monday.
Shivanand Salgaocar, a lifelong football enthusiast inspired by his father and former Salgaocar Football Club owner Vasudev Salgaocar, played a key role in the club’s successful domestic campaigns. The club won the National Football League, Federation Cup, Rovers Cup and several state titles during his association.
He also held various leadership positions in the GFA and the All India Football Federation.
Former India captain Mauricio Afonso received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Player. Afonso was part of Goa’s victorious Junior National Championship team in 1981 and Santosh Trophy-winning squads in 1983 and 1984 before making his mark as a coach.
Sporting Clube de Goa was named Team of the Year after winning the Goa Professional League for a third successive season.
The GFA also announced a partnership with Reliance Foundation for the Youth Leagues for the 2026-27 season.
Special Appreciation Awards were presented to Bernadinho Velho and Milagres Terez for their contribution to refereeing, the late Valerian R Gerson Rebelo for his contribution to Goan football, Sandesh Chodankar for investigating match-fixing allegations and Pravin Dabholkar for bringing integrity concerns to the authorities.
Reliance Foundation was also recognised for its contribution to youth football development in Goa.
Karen Ann D’Souza received the Fans’ Favourite Player Award after winning a public vote among football supporters.
GFA president Caitano Fernandes also presented cash awards of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the Goa Beach Football Team,
which won a national silver medal, and the Goa Women’s Team for their achievements.
Champions and runners-up from various youth, women’s and senior competitions were also felicitated at the function, which recognised players, coaches, referees, officials, organisers and volunteers for their contribution during the 2025-26 season.
