FC Goa sign Brazilian defender Luciano Sabrosa for the Indian Super League
The Brazilian defender Luciano Sabrosa has signed with the Indian Super League club FC Goa from the I-League club. Pune FC With this signing FC Goa have completed their quota of international players.
According to the structures laid in place by the Football Development Sports Limited (FDSL), each franchise can also sign a maximum of two foreign players of their choice as part of their plus four additional quota places.
The club has now filled all the places in the squad as they have already signed Salgaocar's Scottish striker Darryl Duffy. The 36-year old defender has played for a lot of I-League teams since he came to India during the 2007-08 season.
He has won the I-League title with Salgaocar in the 2010-11 season alongside winning the now defunct Federation Cup. He has also gone on to make over a hundred appearances in the league during his stay in the Indian League.
India's best defender in 2010
His stint at Salgaocar in the state of Goa was succeeded with a move to Mohammedan SC in Kolkata in the 2013-14 season where he made 18 appearances for the I-League side. He won the Durand Cup and the IFA Shield at the time with the Kolkata-based club. However, the club was relegated to I-League division 2 at the end of the season.
He signed for the I-League club Pune FC in the start of the last season, anchoring the defence line in all of the 20 matches and even finding the back of the net on 2 occasions. During a successful eight-year period in India, the defender has also picked up the title of being India's best defender in 2010.
It is believed the organizers had to be very gentle and persuasive into allowing teams to bring in the foreign players who played in the I-League, in this case, the duo of Duffy and Sobrosa. This was because of the mixed bag of expectations and performances that the foreign players in India's primary football league brought to the field in the last edition of the tournament.
The ISL club FC Goa are having their pre-season tour at this point of time and the defender will join the team to take part in the pre-season. FC Goa are scheduled to play AL Khaleej club on 11th September, AL Shabab FC on 15th September and AL Jazira club on 19th September 2015.