Delhi Soccer Association was today renamed as Football Delhi in a move which its president Shaji Prabhakran said was aimed at making the national capital a model football state in the country by 2021.
"Delhi Soccer Association, now called Football Delhi has entered into a new chapter in the development of the sport in the city. Today is a historic day. We want to make Delhi a model football state in the country by 2021," Prabhakaran said.
"This re-branding of DSA as Football Delhi is the beginning of a journey of transformation. It will not be a mere talk but we will work tirelessly as a team and will achieve our objectives," he said while launching the new logo.
He said "the new brand captures the energy and youthfulness of the sport and at the same time reflects the stature of the governing body of the sport in the capital city."
"Professionalism, integrity, transparency, inclusiveness, teamwork and stature would be values that would define how the new body Football Delhi would function," said the president who took charge last year.
Prabhakaran also announced that Football Delhi will support a Centre of Excellence for Girls to be set up in one of the city schools this year. 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 will be signed in the next few days.
Nineteen players in U-16 and 17 in U-19 category have been selected to train at the CoE for Girls likely to be set up in one of the schools in New Delhi Municipal Council area.
"One of our focus areas will be women's football and we want to play a part for the betterment of women in this city. Girls or women in Delhi will have as much of an opportunity to play as boys or men and would get special priority," Prabhakaran said.
He thanked the management of the Hero Motocop, COSCO, Angelique Foundation, Expereal and other partners for extending support to Football Delhi at this crucial juncture when the organization was 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, Management.
Edmund Jones, the 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 the approval of the Executive Committee.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)