AFC Champions League: We are all behind you, Virat Kohli hails FC Goa for scripting history in Indian club football

Virat Kohli hailed FC Goa for becoming the first-ever Indian football club to qualify for the AFC Champions League group stage on Thursday.

Kohli co-owns the football club along with Jaydev Mody and Akshay Tandon. Goa is the only state or union territory to have declared football as its official sport.

"Big ups to the Gaurs on becoming the first-ever Indian club to qualify for the AFC Champions League group stage and topping the ISL League table! Keep putting in the work. We are all behind you. #BeGoa #FCGoainAsia," Quote-retweeting FC Goa's post-match celebration video-post, the Indian cricket captain wrote on his official Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/1230393052533006336

FC Goa, whose logo represents Goa's state animal the Gaur, needed just one point in the ongoing Indian Super League (ISL) 2019-20 season and they earned that with their 5-0 win over Jamshedpur FC on Wednesday.

Earlier, it was reported that All India Football Federation President Praful Patel and General Secretary Kushal Das were trying to get India a direct entry into the AFC Champions League.

Courtesy of their push, AFC announced that the club that would finish on top at the end of the league stage would automatically qualify for the continent's premier club tournament.

After Wednesday's result, Jamshedpur finished with 18 points, while FC Goa finished on the top of the ISL points table with 39 points having won 18 matches, drawn three and lost three. They also qualified for ISL's playoffs along with second, third and fourth-placed clubs, ATK, Bengaluru FC and Mumbai City FC.

The AFC Champions League was established in the 2002-03 season.. Never before this season had any Indian club made it to the group stages as India never had a direct window in the competition.

In the current ISL edition, FC Goa's Spanish forward Ferrán Corominas and ATK's Roy Krishna are the joint top scorers so far having netted 14 times each. Even in the list of top assist, FC Goa is on the top. Their attacking midfielder Hugo Boumous of France has set up as many as 10 goals so far for his team.