Budding footballers shoot for Stars in Delhi Dynamos and Hero ISL Grassroots Festival

ISL Grassroots Technical Director, Piet Hubers with kids

New Delhi, 16th April, 2015: Since its formation and launch last year, the Delhi Dynamos FC has not only represented our capital in the Hero Indian Super League, but has also taken up the mantle of developing football in Delhi NCR with great enthusiasm. The Dynamos kicked off their grassroots programme for 2015 with an open trial on Saturday (April 11) at the Ambedkar Stadium. The event saw a whopping turnout of over 1,500 people not just from Delhi, but also from its neighboring states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The Dynamos shortlisted about 200 children from their Open Trial to take part in the Hero ISL Grassroots Festival held earlier today at the Ambedkar Stadium. Piet Hubers – the ISL Grassroots Director, was present at the event and interacted with the children while keenly observing their skills. The final selection of talented players from today’s event will head to Mumbai along with their counterparts from 7 other Hero ISL teams to take part in the Reliance Young Champs Programme. These budding footballers stand a chance to get a multi-year scholarship from Hero ISL.

Vaibhav Manchanda, Vice President of the Delhi Dynamos, said: “We have always believed in developing the beautiful game from the ground up. Even before our first season in 2014, we launched our maiden grassroots initiative - ‘Junior Dynamos’ in Delhi NCR. It was one of the largest Inter-School Football Tournaments in Delhi at the time, and we saw a participation of over 2400 Players from over 180 schools.”

“In Grassroots, continuity is important, and we are proud to see many children from the Junior Dynamos programme coming for the Open Trial on Saturday, and some have even cleared the first round! The buck doesn’t stop here; we are currently working on some longer term plans for Grassroots Development and will share these in due course of time,” he added.

In 2015, the Delhi Dynamos FC plans to continue and expand the scope of their grassroots programme, and hope that their ‘Open Football Trials’ in association with the Hero Indian Super League will be instrumental in discovering the next Indian football stars that could possibly represent the country in the FIFA U17 World Cup in 2017.

Aryan, a 12-year-old Budding Footballer from Delhi, said: “I am very excited to be a part of this. My aim is to rise as a player. I hope to play for the Delhi Dynamos someday!”

Through a series of grassroots initiatives to be held over the next few months, the club is looking at encouraging budding players and providing them with the right platform to display their skills. The Dynamos hope to sustainably develop and encourage football talent in the city.

Shakti Chauhan, Coach – Delhi Dynamos FC, said: “At Delhi Dynamos FC, we feel a fundamental responsibility to nurture football as a sport in not just our city, but the whole of North India. I was thrilled to see such a huge turnout for our first Open Trial - its living proof of the fact that football is the sport to watch out for.”

“The enthusiasm and skills in these children have impressed me immensely, and I hope to see more and more children taking up the sport professionally and benefitting from the Delhi Dynamosgrassroots program.”