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The wait for India's biggest football extravaganza -- the Indian Super League -- is finally about to end. The first match of this edition will be played between ATK and Kerala Blasters on 29th September.
FC Goa have a really strong youth set up and they even launched a women's team in July 2018, becoming only the second club to do so after Pune City FC.
The Gaurs finished second on the league table in the inaugural edition of the ISL and took it a step further in the 2nd season by finishing on top of the table. However, they lost the final to Chennaiyin in that season.
The Virat Kohli co-owned side took a downturn in the 3rd season as they hit rock bottom, finishing 8th in the table even though they were being coached by former Brazilian footballer Zico.
The Sergio Lobera-led side were back to winning ways in the previous (also the 4th) season of ISL as they finished at 3rd position in the table out of 10 teams as they won 9 matches, drew 3, and lost 6. The most positive takeaway was that they scored 42 goals in the league stage of the previous season – the most by any side.
The signing of six Spanish players such as Manuel Lanzarote and Edu Bedia by newly assigned coach Sergio Lobera Rodriguez completely changed the fortunes for the Gaurs in the previous season.
Brazilian legends Lúcio and Robert Pirès of France have also donned the FC Goa jersey in previous editions.
With interesting new signings such as Spanish winger Miguel Palanca, left-back Carlos Pena, Senegalese centre-back Mourtada Fall, Nirmal Chettri, goalkeeper Lalthuammawia Ralte, Jackichand Singh, and Lenny Rodrigues, FC Goa look like a formidable unit for the upcoming season. Sergio Lobera has been successful in creating a balanced squad once more and the Gaurs will be extremely excited and eagerly anticipating how they fare in the upcoming season. Fatorda or the Fortress (Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao) awaits their fans.
Here are FC Goa's fixtures for ISL 2018-19
1st October: NorthEast United FC (A) 7:30 PM (Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati)
6th October: Chennaiyin FC (A) 7:30 PM (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai)
24th October: Mumbai City FC (H) 7:30 PM (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa)
28th October: FC Pune City (H) 7:30 PM (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa)
1st November: Jamshedpur FC (A) 7:30 PM (JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur)
8th November: Delhi Dynamos FC (H) 7:30 PM (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa)
11th November: Kerala Blasters FC (A) 7:30 PM (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi)
22nd November: Bengaluru FC (H) 7:30 PM (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa)
28th November: ATK (A) 7:30 PM (Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata)
11th December: FC Pune City (A) 7:30 PM IST (Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex Stadium, Pune)
14th December: NorthEast United FC (H) 7:30 PM (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa)
*(H) - Home Games, (A) Away Games
The second part of the fixtures has not been released yet. The ISL will be witnessing two international breaks this time around -- due to International friendlies, and the AFC Asian Cup, respectively.
