East Bengal to play ISL club FC Goa in pre-season friendly

Kolkata giant East Bengal will take on Indian Super League (ISL) club FC Goa in a pre-season exhibition match on September 22 at the Bambolim Football ground.

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East Bengal’s top official, Debabrata Sarkar, confirmed to Sportstar that the team will travel to Goa a couple of days prior to the game. “We will be playing an exhibition game with the ISL’s Goa franchise at their home ground. This will be a part of our pre-season training,” Sarkar said on Saturday.

While there was no official word from the Goa franchise, which is having a pre-season camp in Spain, it was learnt that the club may officially announce the fixture on its social media accounts in the next few days. The team is expected to be back from the Spain tour on Monday.

There were talks of East Bengal going abroad for its pre-season camp, but Sarkar clarified that no decision has been taken on the venue yet. “We are still discussing the matter. Something will be finalised soon,” Sarkar said.

This season, Bengaluru FC, Jamshedpur FC and Northeast United have all played pre-season exhibition matches with I-League clubs.

Last year, East Bengal had played a friendly match with Jamshedpur, which the red and gold brigade won 3-1.