Dempo Sports Club

Dempo Sports Club is a sports club based in the city of Panjim, the capital of Goa. It is a renowned sports club in India and the football team of the club is one of the most popular team in the country. The team has several accolades and honors in its kitty. Many famous players of the national football team of the country have once been associated with this team. Popularly known as �the whites�, the team has been a constant performer in all the national football championship and gained immensely popularity in the last four decades of its existence.

History
Dempo Sports Club began as Bicholim Football Club which was a top First Division league side in the 1960s. Football lovers in the country remember the Bicholim Football Club as one of the most talented football club in the country. Players like 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.

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. In 1969, the team stood as the first runner up in the Vasco Sports Club in the Senior Division League.

The Dempo Souza Sports Club finally became Dempo Sports Club, after Dempo bought Mr Michael D��Souza's stake in the Dempo Souza enterprise. 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. Dempo then came at par with the other business houses, like Salgaocar, Agencia Commercial Maritima, Shantilal and Sesa Goa who had their own teams.

Current Status
Dempo Sports Club has prospered extensively under the chairmanship of Srinivas Dempo and the supervision of the Armando Colaco, a former Dempo Sports Club stalwart. Players of prominence namely Climax Lawrence, Clifford Miranda and Mahesh Gawli and Ranty Martins Soleye of Nigeria are associated with this football club. The team has showed tremendous performance in the last two decades and gathered enormous fan following.

Achievements and Accolades
Dempo sports club has won umpteen numbers of awards and prestigious trophies in past few years. It has emerged as the winner of the several national trophies in the last few years. The club has won the prestigious Indian League in 2004, 2005, 2008 respectively. It also emerged as a winner in the recently concluded inaugral-I-league 2007-08. The club has also been a consistent performer in the other prestigious championships like Federal club, Durand Cup and Indian Super Cup. The club has been the winner of the prestigious Durand Cup in 2006 and Federal Cup (India) in 2004. The club had been four time winner of Rovers Cup and record eleven times winner of the Goa League.