The Delhi Dynamos FC team was unveiled by West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns ahead of their Premier League clash with Middlesbrough on Sunday. The special unveiling was part of the link up between the Baggies and the Delhi-based franchise from the Indian Super League.
West Brom and the Delhi side have set up a partnership for the development of football from the grassroots level in the greater Delhi region in collaboration with the UK Trade and Industry, Wolverhampton University, and the New Delhi government.
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The Delhi Dynamos are touring Europe as part of their pre-season from 24 August to 14 September and are scheduled to play a friendly against West Brom on Saturday, September 3 at 7.30 pm (IST) at The Hawthorns. The match will be the first of its kind where a Premier League side will play against an Indian Super League team.
The match will be held during the first international break of the 2016-17 season.
(Video Courtesy: Anas Edathodika Facebook page)
President of Delhi Dynamos, Prasanth Agarwal said, “It is a proud moment for the Delhi Dynamos FC to be the first ever Indian club to play a match against a Premier League side. Indian football is an expanding and a progressive industry, the world is watching us and we at Delhi Dynamos FC believe in rising to the occasion and establishing our presence.”
Delhi Dynamos have been the first Indian team who have made their brand presence felt in the English Premier League. Both clubs cross-promoted each other in their respective home grounds last season.
Tickets for the match are being sold at £5 and all proceeds will be split up between five different charities including the Albion Foundation.
The Delhi Dynamos are gearing up for the third edition of the Hero ISL. After signing Roberto Carlos as player-manager for last season, the Delhi team announced the signing of Italian defender Gianluca Zambrotta as their manager in July.
Ahead of the pre-season tour, Zambrotta sad, “I am looking forward to the pre-season as I will be seeing most of the players in action for the first time and it will allow me to build on future formations. It will be encouraging for my fairly young squad to play against their European counterparts, and come back with an enriched experience which will definitely give us an edge of excellence for our season ahead.”
The Delhi-based club has also re-signed former French and Chelsea midfielder Florent Malouda for a second consecutive season as their marquee player.
He had the highest number of assists in last year’s ISL – eight in 16 appearances. He is set to join the rest of the team in England for the pre-season.
After playing the second half of last season in Egypt for Wadi Degla FC, Malouda said that he was glad to be back. He said,“I am very excited to be back in India. It was a wonderful experience for me to play in the league last year and enjoyed it a lot. It was for the first time that I played outside Europe and to be honest I enjoyed it a lot.”
