Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur were crowned the champions of the second edition of ‘The New Indian Express Goal 2013′ overcoming Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha in the final of the All-Kerala inter-collegiate football tournament at the Sacred Hearts College Ground, Thevara.

The Kerala Varma College were awarded the trophy and the cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh at a glittering function attended by Oommen Chandy, the Chief Minister of Kerala, Ramesh Chennithala, the KPCC President, Union Minister KV Thomas and Excise Minister K Babu. The runners- up Nirmala College were rewarded Rs. 50,000 for their heroics in the tournament.

The CM was in full awe for the tournament. “Though the state had a glorious past in football, cricket is showing a tendency to overtake the game.However, still there is place for football as the game is loved by a large section of people of the state, especially in the northern side. All the efforts to revive the game should be lauded,” he said.

This was the second edition of the inter collegiate football tournament conducted by The New Indian Express (TNIE). 16 teams from four universities in Kerala participated in the event. TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla, who presided over the function, said ‘Express’ would take all possible steps to promote football meanwhile the Resident Editor (Kerala) Vinod Mathew Jacob said the tournament would be organised extensively. Number of participating teams will be increased next year. “We are also planning to organise tournaments in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

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Airtel Chief Operating Officer Sharan Shetty, Coca-Cola zonal head Ajai Kumar, ONGC Group GM Vanitha Kumar, Indian Oil Corporation General Manager A Pandian, Geojith BNP Paribas Executive Director Sharath Sharma and CGH Group Managing Director Jose Dominic were also present.

KMI Mather, Vice President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) also announced a friendly match between a ‘GOAL 2013 All-Star Eleven’ and the Kerala Santosh Trophy team on February 11, 2013 at Kochi.

From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Sunday 3 February 2013. The database copy of this article was lost; it was recovered in 2026 from the Internet Archive's saved copy of the live page.