Dempo Sports Club began as "Bicholim Football Club",[27] which was a top First Division league side in the 1960s.[28] Football lovers in the country remember the Bicholim Football Club as one of the most talented football club in the country. Players including Subhash Sinari, Bernard Olivera, Tolentino Serrao, Bhaskar, Kalidas Gaad, Manohar Pednekar, Bhai Pednekar, Ganpat Gaonkar and Pandurang Gaonkar are still remembered to the Bicholim Football Club on a completely different standard compared to the other sports club existing at that moment.[29][30] Bicholim Sports Club was later adopted by Dempo Souza in 1967 and was renamed Dempo Souza Sports Club. Even then the team remained one of the strongest team in the country with players like Eustaquio, Dass, Balaguru, Olavo, Colaco, Inacio, Felix Barreto, Thapa, Ramesh Redkar, Socrates Carvalho, Sadanand Asnodkar and Tulsidas Alornekar.[30] In 1969, the team stood as the first runner-up in the
Vasco Sports Club in the
Senior Division League.[30]
The Dempo Souza Sports Club finally became Dempo Sports Club, after Dempo bought Mr Michael D'Souza's stake in the Dempo Souza enterprise.[30] However, Dempo Sports Club prospered when Vasantrao Dempo, the chairman of the House of Dempo, extended his benefaction to football team in an extensive manner.[30] Dempo then came at par with the other business houses, like Salgaocar, Agencia Commercial Maritima, Shantilal and Sesa Goa who had their own teams.[9] Dempo Sports Club started out as Dempo Souza Football Club in 1961 and was taken over when they made the company their own
Dempo Corporation around that time.[31] The club was started by Michael deSouza and the logo and colours that the club wears currently was what he had chosen for the team. The club won their first
Goan Senior League title in 1972.[32] The club then won their first ever national pan-India tournament in 1975 by winning the
Rovers Cup.[33] British coach
Bob Bootland took charge of Dempo in 1978 and changed the way India looked at its football with a revolutionary 4–3–3 style of play.[34] The club then won the Rovers Cup again in 1978.[31] The club defended their title one year later in 1979. Their first double. Dempo clinched
Stafford Challenge Cup titles in 1975 and 1979.[35][36]
Gaining prominence (1980–2000)
Dempo then entered their "Golden-Age" during the 1980s.[31] Dempo won a host of small cups and they also won the Rovers Cup again in 1986 by beating historic club
Mohun Bagan. The club also won the Goan League in 1986 and 1987.[31]
The club then went on to participate in their first international tournament named
POMIS Cup in
Malé, and achieved runner-up positions twice in 1991 and 1992.[37] The club then won the Rovers Cup again by beating Mohun Bagan again and were then one of the original 12 teams in the first
National Football League in 1996.[38] The club then got relegated in 1999–2000 but got promoted the very next season.[39]
Later years (2000–present)
Dempo won their first NFL championship in 2004.[31] They also won the
last NFL season.[7] Later, they clinched
Durand Cup title, thrashing
JCT Mills by 2–0 in the 2006 final.[40][41] Dempo then won the maiden
I-League season in
2007–08.[42][43][44] As a result of this title win, Dempo played in
AFC competition in 2008 during the
2008 AFC Cup, and ended their campaign as semi-finalist, losing to Lebanese club
Safa 5–1 in aggregate.[45][46] They again won the league in
2009–10 and
2011–12.
In 2011, Dempo signed
Trinidadian and Tobago international
Densill Theobald as marquee player, who represented his nation at the
2006 FIFA World Cup.[47] After the
2012–13 season, where Dempo finished in 5th place, they parted ways with their most successful coach
Armando Colaco, with whom they had won 5
League titles.[48][49] They appointed
Arthur Papas, who had previously been the head coach of the Indian U23 Men's National Team.[50]
Dempo finished their
2013–14 campaign with a 4th-place finish.[51][52]
In March 2015, after losing their final match to fellow
Goan and relegation threatened club
Salgaocar 2–0, they got relegated for the first time from
I-league and later participated in
I-League 2nd Division.[53] In 2015–16 I-League Second Division season, they clinched title.[54][55] Then, the club was hit by numerous injuries, which had ruined their season in the top division.[56] Before the start of the 2016–17 season, Dempo, along with fellow Goan clubs, Salgaocar FC and
Sporting Clube, announced their withdrawal from the I-League.[57][58] After their withdrawal from
I-League, Dempo participated later editions of the
I-League 2nd Division, the second tier of
Indian football league system.[59][60]
Dempo SC players at the
Goa Police Cup final in November 2023
In the
2021–22 Goa Professional League season,
Samir Naik managed Dempo end decade long wait, and clinched the title in style.[61] In February–March 2023, the club participated in
Stafford Challenge Cup in Bangalore.[62][63] In July 2023, Dempo roped in Scottish-Indian football pundit and manager Pradhyum Reddy as club's CEO.[64] The club later won GFA Charity Cup in August 2023, beating Sporting Goa in final.[65] In that month of the same year, Dempo gained an
I-League 3 spot to compete in the
inaugural edition.[66][67][68] In that edition, they reached play-offs, finished second and secured promotion to
I-League 2.[69][70][71] The club ended their I-League 2 campaign on a high note with 27 points in 14 matches, achieved second place and earned promotion to the
2024–25 I-League.[72] Thus, Dempo returned to the I-League after a gap of nine years.[73][74]
The Dempo Sports Club crest is the official logo for
Dempo Corporations sports clubs that it owns. The logo includes the words Goa (name of the state Dempo is based in) and Dempo Sports Club (team name). The logo also includes a picture of a golden bird in the middle of the crest.[75]
The official colours of Dempo Sports Club are
blue and
white.[76][77] Ever since their creation Dempo's home colours have always involved blue,[78] mainly with the shirts while the shorts were always either blue or black. The away colours were always all white but then in 2011 when Dempo unveiled their away kit the shirt had black stripes on it. The shorts however remain the same.
Ahead of the club's
2020–21 football season, the Golden Eagles introduced the new home and away jerseys to show solidarity towards the health workers in
Goa. The team announced that they will proudly bear the words "Thank You Goa's Covid Warriors" on their Home and Away jerseys.[79]
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium opened in 1989 and Dempo SC has been using it for all its
I-League matches.[89] The stadium also served as club's home ground in continental tournaments including the
AFC Cup.[90]Nagoa Ground in
Mapusa became the home ground of Dempo during the
2012–13 I-League, alongside
Tilak Maidan.[91][92][93][94][95] The stadium got its
AstroTurf in 2012 as part of
FIFA's Win in India with India program.
Training grounds
Sircaim was used as a destination for the training of Dempo, the other being at
Sanquelim. The
Sesa Football Academy Ground is located at Sircaim and they used it for pre-season training from 2014 to 2015.[96]
Ella Academy Ground
A 48,450-square-meter training complex in Old Goa, the Ella Academy, was opened in 2017 by Dempo. Ella Academy Ground has also been used as the home ground for the club's both senior and junior teams.[97][98]
Ownership and finances
At the moment Dempo Sports Club's main sponsor and owner is
Dempo Mining Corporation Limited.[99] The club has been owned by Dempo since their creation. As part of the sponsorship from Dempo the club also named itself Dempo Sports Club and is classed as an institutional club in that case.[99]
The finances given to the club are very limited which meant that the club was forced to spend less on infrastructure and proven players and spend more on local youth development.
Armando Colaco (center) with Brazilian football legend Zico (left) at the East Bengal club tent in Kolkata. Colaco guided Dempo to win five national league titles.
Dempo roped in their first foreign coach in 1977, when British national
Robert "Bob" Bootland joined the club as a trainer.[103] The club hired their first professional manager in 2000,
Armando Colaco;[104] he remained with the club until the end of season 2012–13 and gave five domestic league titles.[105][106][107] In June 2013, the club signed Greek-Australian manager
Arthur Papas who was already working in India as the Indian U23 National Team coach.
Rovers Cup (1975), Stafford Challenge Cup (1975), Nizam Gold Cup (1975), Plaza Cup (1975), Bordoloi Shield (1975), Bandodkar Gold Trophy (1976), Goa Professional League (1972; 1974), Taça Goa (1977), Pele Cup (1977)
The players below had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed, represented their countries before or after playing for Dempo SC.[123][Note 1]
Widely considered one of the most successful clubs in the
Indian football circuit due to their domestic exploits, the club also holds the distinct honour of becoming the first Indian club to reach the Semi-Finals of the
AFC Cup in
2008.[163]
Also known as 'POMIS International Cup' [not POMIS Cup]; Dempo captained by Camilo Gonsalves took part in the tournament in
Malé and defeated local side
New Radiant 5–4 via the tie-breaker (penalty shoot-out) in the final.
The POMIS Cup (fully known as: 'President of Maldives Invitational Soccer Cup') an international club football tournament incorporated in 1987, is the only international club tournament held in
the Maldives, organized by the
Football Association of Maldives (FAM).
^Sharma, Sukalp (31 May 2010).
"Indias biggest league". financialexpress.com. The Financial Express. Archived from
the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
^Technologies, Sancoale (3 August 2020).
"Stafford Challenge Cup 1975". demposportsclub.in. Dempo Sports Club. Archived from
the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
^Technologies, Sancoale (3 August 2020).
"Stafford Challenge Cup 1979". demposportsclub.in. Dempo Sports Club. Archived from
the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
^Sharda, Deepankar (12 December 2016).
"Minerva FC to debut in 2017 I-League". tribuneindia.com. Chandigarh: The Tribune India News. Archived from
the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^
abSharma, Sukalp (31 May 2010).
"Indias biggest league". financialexpress.com. The Financial Express. Archived from
the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
^Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin.
"Kasun Nadika Jayasuriya". www.national-football-teams.com. Archived from
the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
^Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin.
"Ediri Bandanage Channa". www.national-football-teams.com. Archived from
the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
^
abcdefChattopadhyay, Hariprasad (17 January 2015).
"Time to regain lost glory". telegraphindia.com. Kolkata: The Telegraph India. Archived from
the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
Chattopadhyay, Hariprasad (17 January 2015).
"Time to regain lost glory". telegraphindia.com. Kolkata: The Telegraph India. Archived from
the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
"Bengaluru FC bow out of DSK Cup". the-aiff..com. New Delhi: All India Football Federation. 31 October 2015. Archived from
the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
Notes: The tournament was not held from 1914-19 (due to
WWI), in 1939 (due to
WWII), from 1941-49 (due to
WWII and
Partition), in 1962 (due to
1962 War) and in 2015 and 2017-2018 (due to unknown reasons)
Dempo Sports Club began as "Bicholim Football Club",[27] which was a top First Division league side in the 1960s.[28] Football lovers in the country remember the Bicholim Football Club as one of the most talented football club in the country. Players including Subhash Sinari, Bernard Olivera, Tolentino Serrao, Bhaskar, Kalidas Gaad, Manohar Pednekar, Bhai Pednekar, Ganpat Gaonkar and Pandurang Gaonkar are still remembered to the Bicholim Football Club on a completely different standard compared to the other sports club existing at that moment.[29][30] Bicholim Sports Club was later adopted by Dempo Souza in 1967 and was renamed Dempo Souza Sports Club. Even then the team remained one of the strongest team in the country with players like Eustaquio, Dass, Balaguru, Olavo, Colaco, Inacio, Felix Barreto, Thapa, Ramesh Redkar, Socrates Carvalho, Sadanand Asnodkar and Tulsidas Alornekar.[30] In 1969, the team stood as the first runner-up in the
Vasco Sports Club in the
Senior Division League.[30]
The Dempo Souza Sports Club finally became Dempo Sports Club, after Dempo bought Mr Michael D'Souza's stake in the Dempo Souza enterprise.[30] However, Dempo Sports Club prospered when Vasantrao Dempo, the chairman of the House of Dempo, extended his benefaction to football team in an extensive manner.[30] Dempo then came at par with the other business houses, like Salgaocar, Agencia Commercial Maritima, Shantilal and Sesa Goa who had their own teams.[9] Dempo Sports Club started out as Dempo Souza Football Club in 1961 and was taken over when they made the company their own
Dempo Corporation around that time.[31] The club was started by Michael deSouza and the logo and colours that the club wears currently was what he had chosen for the team. The club won their first
Goan Senior League title in 1972.[32] The club then won their first ever national pan-India tournament in 1975 by winning the
Rovers Cup.[33] British coach
Bob Bootland took charge of Dempo in 1978 and changed the way India looked at its football with a revolutionary 4–3–3 style of play.[34] The club then won the Rovers Cup again in 1978.[31] The club defended their title one year later in 1979. Their first double. Dempo clinched
Stafford Challenge Cup titles in 1975 and 1979.[35][36]
Gaining prominence (1980–2000)
Dempo then entered their "Golden-Age" during the 1980s.[31] Dempo won a host of small cups and they also won the Rovers Cup again in 1986 by beating historic club
Mohun Bagan. The club also won the Goan League in 1986 and 1987.[31]
The club then went on to participate in their first international tournament named
POMIS Cup in
Malé, and achieved runner-up positions twice in 1991 and 1992.[37] The club then won the Rovers Cup again by beating Mohun Bagan again and were then one of the original 12 teams in the first
National Football League in 1996.[38] The club then got relegated in 1999–2000 but got promoted the very next season.[39]
Later years (2000–present)
Dempo won their first NFL championship in 2004.[31] They also won the
last NFL season.[7] Later, they clinched
Durand Cup title, thrashing
JCT Mills by 2–0 in the 2006 final.[40][41] Dempo then won the maiden
I-League season in
2007–08.[42][43][44] As a result of this title win, Dempo played in
AFC competition in 2008 during the
2008 AFC Cup, and ended their campaign as semi-finalist, losing to Lebanese club
Safa 5–1 in aggregate.[45][46] They again won the league in
2009–10 and
2011–12.
In 2011, Dempo signed
Trinidadian and Tobago international
Densill Theobald as marquee player, who represented his nation at the
2006 FIFA World Cup.[47] After the
2012–13 season, where Dempo finished in 5th place, they parted ways with their most successful coach
Armando Colaco, with whom they had won 5
League titles.[48][49] They appointed
Arthur Papas, who had previously been the head coach of the Indian U23 Men's National Team.[50]
Dempo finished their
2013–14 campaign with a 4th-place finish.[51][52]
In March 2015, after losing their final match to fellow
Goan and relegation threatened club
Salgaocar 2–0, they got relegated for the first time from
I-league and later participated in
I-League 2nd Division.[53] In 2015–16 I-League Second Division season, they clinched title.[54][55] Then, the club was hit by numerous injuries, which had ruined their season in the top division.[56] Before the start of the 2016–17 season, Dempo, along with fellow Goan clubs, Salgaocar FC and
Sporting Clube, announced their withdrawal from the I-League.[57][58] After their withdrawal from
I-League, Dempo participated later editions of the
I-League 2nd Division, the second tier of
Indian football league system.[59][60]
Dempo SC players at the
Goa Police Cup final in November 2023
In the
2021–22 Goa Professional League season,
Samir Naik managed Dempo end decade long wait, and clinched the title in style.[61] In February–March 2023, the club participated in
Stafford Challenge Cup in Bangalore.[62][63] In July 2023, Dempo roped in Scottish-Indian football pundit and manager Pradhyum Reddy as club's CEO.[64] The club later won GFA Charity Cup in August 2023, beating Sporting Goa in final.[65] In that month of the same year, Dempo gained an
I-League 3 spot to compete in the
inaugural edition.[66][67][68] In that edition, they reached play-offs, finished second and secured promotion to
I-League 2.[69][70][71] The club ended their I-League 2 campaign on a high note with 27 points in 14 matches, achieved second place and earned promotion to the
2024–25 I-League.[72] Thus, Dempo returned to the I-League after a gap of nine years.[73][74]
The Dempo Sports Club crest is the official logo for
Dempo Corporations sports clubs that it owns. The logo includes the words Goa (name of the state Dempo is based in) and Dempo Sports Club (team name). The logo also includes a picture of a golden bird in the middle of the crest.[75]
The official colours of Dempo Sports Club are
blue and
white.[76][77] Ever since their creation Dempo's home colours have always involved blue,[78] mainly with the shirts while the shorts were always either blue or black. The away colours were always all white but then in 2011 when Dempo unveiled their away kit the shirt had black stripes on it. The shorts however remain the same.
Ahead of the club's
2020–21 football season, the Golden Eagles introduced the new home and away jerseys to show solidarity towards the health workers in
Goa. The team announced that they will proudly bear the words "Thank You Goa's Covid Warriors" on their Home and Away jerseys.[79]
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium opened in 1989 and Dempo SC has been using it for all its
I-League matches.[89] The stadium also served as club's home ground in continental tournaments including the
AFC Cup.[90]Nagoa Ground in
Mapusa became the home ground of Dempo during the
2012–13 I-League, alongside
Tilak Maidan.[91][92][93][94][95] The stadium got its
AstroTurf in 2012 as part of
FIFA's Win in India with India program.
Training grounds
Sircaim was used as a destination for the training of Dempo, the other being at
Sanquelim. The
Sesa Football Academy Ground is located at Sircaim and they used it for pre-season training from 2014 to 2015.[96]
Ella Academy Ground
A 48,450-square-meter training complex in Old Goa, the Ella Academy, was opened in 2017 by Dempo. Ella Academy Ground has also been used as the home ground for the club's both senior and junior teams.[97][98]
Ownership and finances
At the moment Dempo Sports Club's main sponsor and owner is
Dempo Mining Corporation Limited.[99] The club has been owned by Dempo since their creation. As part of the sponsorship from Dempo the club also named itself Dempo Sports Club and is classed as an institutional club in that case.[99]
The finances given to the club are very limited which meant that the club was forced to spend less on infrastructure and proven players and spend more on local youth development.
Armando Colaco (center) with Brazilian football legend Zico (left) at the East Bengal club tent in Kolkata. Colaco guided Dempo to win five national league titles.
Dempo roped in their first foreign coach in 1977, when British national
Robert "Bob" Bootland joined the club as a trainer.[103] The club hired their first professional manager in 2000,
Armando Colaco;[104] he remained with the club until the end of season 2012–13 and gave five domestic league titles.[105][106][107] In June 2013, the club signed Greek-Australian manager
Arthur Papas who was already working in India as the Indian U23 National Team coach.
Rovers Cup (1975), Stafford Challenge Cup (1975), Nizam Gold Cup (1975), Plaza Cup (1975), Bordoloi Shield (1975), Bandodkar Gold Trophy (1976), Goa Professional League (1972; 1974), Taça Goa (1977), Pele Cup (1977)
The players below had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed, represented their countries before or after playing for Dempo SC.[123][Note 1]
Widely considered one of the most successful clubs in the
Indian football circuit due to their domestic exploits, the club also holds the distinct honour of becoming the first Indian club to reach the Semi-Finals of the
AFC Cup in
2008.[163]
Also known as 'POMIS International Cup' [not POMIS Cup]; Dempo captained by Camilo Gonsalves took part in the tournament in
Malé and defeated local side
New Radiant 5–4 via the tie-breaker (penalty shoot-out) in the final.
The POMIS Cup (fully known as: 'President of Maldives Invitational Soccer Cup') an international club football tournament incorporated in 1987, is the only international club tournament held in
the Maldives, organized by the
Football Association of Maldives (FAM).
^Sharma, Sukalp (31 May 2010).
"Indias biggest league". financialexpress.com. The Financial Express. Archived from
the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
^Technologies, Sancoale (3 August 2020).
"Stafford Challenge Cup 1975". demposportsclub.in. Dempo Sports Club. Archived from
the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
^Technologies, Sancoale (3 August 2020).
"Stafford Challenge Cup 1979". demposportsclub.in. Dempo Sports Club. Archived from
the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
^Sharda, Deepankar (12 December 2016).
"Minerva FC to debut in 2017 I-League". tribuneindia.com. Chandigarh: The Tribune India News. Archived from
the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^
abSharma, Sukalp (31 May 2010).
"Indias biggest league". financialexpress.com. The Financial Express. Archived from
the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
^Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin.
"Kasun Nadika Jayasuriya". www.national-football-teams.com. Archived from
the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
^Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin.
"Ediri Bandanage Channa". www.national-football-teams.com. Archived from
the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
^
abcdefChattopadhyay, Hariprasad (17 January 2015).
"Time to regain lost glory". telegraphindia.com. Kolkata: The Telegraph India. Archived from
the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
Chattopadhyay, Hariprasad (17 January 2015).
"Time to regain lost glory". telegraphindia.com. Kolkata: The Telegraph India. Archived from
the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
"Bengaluru FC bow out of DSK Cup". the-aiff..com. New Delhi: All India Football Federation. 31 October 2015. Archived from
the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
Notes: The tournament was not held from 1914-19 (due to
WWI), in 1939 (due to
WWII), from 1941-49 (due to
WWII and
Partition), in 1962 (due to
1962 War) and in 2015 and 2017-2018 (due to unknown reasons)