NEW DELHI: The Delhi Soccer Association was Friday officially rebranded as Football Delhi in a move that its president Shaji Prabhakran said was intrinsic to the larger aim of making the national capital a model football state in the country by 2021.
A part of the social fabric of the city for long, football will never be the same again as the governing body for the game in the capital embarks on what it calls a ‘journey of transformation’.
The launch event also Football Delhi unveil a brand-new logo that “captures the energy and youthfulness of the sport and at the same time, reflects the stature of the governing body of the sport”.
Speaking at the event, Prabhakaran shared that “professionalism, integrity, transparency, inclusiveness, teamwork and stature’ would be values that would define how the new body Football Delhi would function”.
Football Delhi also released its mission statement at the event: “To empower everybody in Delhi who is passionate about football to play with full dignity and to one’s full potential and to take football in Delhi to new heights.”
As part of that mission, Football Delhi announced the setting up of a special girls center where girl players would get special care and help. Angelique Foundation, the CSR arm of Angelique International Limited, has come forward to support the Centre of Excellence for Girls and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed in the next few days.
Ms Jaishree Goyal, head of CSR, Angelique International Limited, expanded on the reasons why her organisation had come forward to support the initiative of Football Delhi: “Angelique Foundation is supporting Centre of Excellence to promote and encourage the girl football players in Delhi and to create a platform for talented girls to train round the year in an environment which is encouraging and handled in a professional manner. It is the endeavour of our foundation to support talented girls in football from all economic background and we support the initiative of Football Delhi in nurturing girl players through it’s centre of excellence.”
Prabhakaran thanked the management of Hero Motocop, COSCO, Angelique Foundation, Expereal and other partners for extending valuable support to Football Delhi at this crucial juncture when the organization is making all-out effort to transform football through multiple initiatives.
Football Delhi, for the first time, has also hired professional staff in different roles – technical, marketing, strategy and finance.
Edmund Jones, former general manager Jet Airways Cargo division, and who founded Royal Rangers Football Club, New Delhi, in 1994, will serve as the first full-time professional general secretary of Football Delhi.
A new office of Football Delhi, which will be called FD House, will start functioning at Jangpura Extension, New Delhi. The old home of DSA at Ambedkar Stadium will house Coach and Referee Education Center.
A detailed calendar for this year will be announced on May 15 after approval from the executive committee. The calendar of activities would include opportunities for girls and boys of all ages and proficiency levels.
Prabhakaran concluded: “In Delhi, football is for all. We all play football.”
