Legendary Indian footballer Fortunato Franco, following a brief illness, breathed his last at the Apollo hospital, Margao, Goa early Monday morning. Franco, 84, is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
Franco Fortunato
The enterprising midfielder Franco represented the India football team at the 1960 Rome Olympics, he was also a member of the Indian team which clinched the Gold medal at the Jakarta Asian Games in 1962. His international career spanned for almost seven years. On the domestic circuit, Franco who played for the famed Bombay (now Mumbai) club Tata’s Sports Club played for the Maharashtra team that won the Santosh Trophy for the National championship at Madras (now Chennai) in 1963.
The Goa-born Franco who started his career with Western Railway later joined Tata’s in 1959-60 and worked as a Public Relations Officer with Telco, retired in 1999 and resettled back to Goa with his wife and children.