Fransa-Pax Football Club (formerly known as Pax of Nagoa) was an Indian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in Nagoa,

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. The club is best known for folding halfway through the 2005–06 Indian National Football League after their owner

Mickky Pacheco Francisco Xavier Pacheco (Mickky) is an Indian politician from Goa. He is a former three-term member of the Goa Legislative Assembly of the Nuvem and Benaulim constituencies and former leader of the Indian National Congress. He held portfolios ...

accused the

All India Football Federation The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the national governing body of football in India. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of football and affiliated to Asian Football Confederation. It is affiliated to Ministry o ...

of trying to relegate the club. They have also competed in the Goa Professional League.

History

Fransa Pax qualified for the 2004–05 Indian National Football League and finished in fifth place that season.

2005–06: final season

After finishing fifth in 2004–05, Fransa Pax were given the schedule for the 2005–06 Indian National Football League in which 7 of their final 8 games were away from home. The ownership group took this as a sign the

wanted them relegated. On 30 January 2006, Pax played a star-filled Mahindra United (who would also disband in 2008) who were then in first place and reigning

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

champions. Mahindra won the match 2–1. After the match, Fransa coach Norbert Fernandes, along with goalkeeper Virendar Singh and Ivan D’Silva, manhandled the referee, Vikramjit Purakayastha, after he awarded Mahindra with two suspicious penalties which were both converted to help them win. Fransa owner Mickky Pacheco ran after the match commissioner Enayetullah around the

Fatorda Stadium Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, locally known as Fatorda Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium situated in Margao, Goa, India. The venue has been used to host both international football as well as International cricket matches.However after th ...

. Also around 2000 Fransa fans vandalized the Fatorda Stadium. After the game, Pacheco threatened to fold his team if justice was not served for the match against Mahindra United even though under

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

rule you can't change the result after the game is completed. On 3 February 2006 when Pax was to play Air India FC the players for Pax did not take to the field. Reason being that Pacheco said that if no justice is taken he would not field a team. Due to pressure from Zee Sports the AIFF canceled three games of Pax's. On 7 February 2006, the AIFF met to discuss the future of the league and club. They decided to reject Pacheco's claim and asked if he would let his team play. At first he said no but on 8 February 2006 he said yes. The AIFF then rejected all demands that the club had and that the players would be punished for the Mahindra United game incident. The AIFF then asked for a letter of apology in which Fransa said no and said they wanted a replay against Air India. The AIFF agreed and set the replay date. Air India then went against this and by FIFA rules were awarded the 3 points. On 23 March 2006, Pax was officially dissolved as a football club.

History

2005–06: final season

Honours

Notable player(s)

See also

References

Further reading