Delhi Dynamos to play a friendly against Premier League side West Bromwich Albion
Indian football fans are in for a surprise. With all the hypes regarding the Indian Super League, one of the team is on the verge of creating history for Indian football. It will be the first time in the history of Indian football that an Indian club will be playing against a Premier League team. West Bromwich Albion are all set to host Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Delhi Dynamos. The match will be played at The Hawthorns on September 3rd, 7.30 P.M IST.
The club announced the same on their Twitter account:
We will be playing @WBA in a friendly on September 3rd, 7:30pm IST. Full story here: https://t.co/krGAZ74xil pic.twitter.com/yxpEUySpQy
— Delhi Dynamos FC (@DelhiDynamos) August 10, 2016
It will be a friendly affair between the two sides as The Baggies play a mid-season match in the 1st international break of the EPL campaign. They will be fielding U-21 players along with some senior players to provide some match practice.
The match will be a part of the ‘Albion in India’ project that was set up by outgoing sales director Adrian Wright. West Brom has got a long-standing association with the Delhi outfit and even loaned their academy product Adil Nabi to play in the ISL before eventually selling him to Peterborough in January. They have even sent coaches for 1200 schoolchildren as part of their tie-up.
Delhi Dynamos is being coached by Italian World Cup winner Gianluca Zambrotta and will hope to outperform others in the coming edition of ISL. They finished 4th last time with the likes of John Arne Riise and Florent Malouda in their squad.
Delhi Dynamos President Prashant Agarwal expressed his excitement saying:
"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 and also the first Indian Super League side to play in the birthplace of football, England.
"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."
He further added: "This game is also to reach out to the Asian community in England, Birmingham in particular. West Bromwich Albion FC has been a brother club to Delhi Dynamos, and we will continue to take this association forward by many more developments in the near future."
It is still not known whether the match will be telecasted here in India or not, but it is expected that all Indian football fanatics will certainly look forward to the match irrespective of the team they support.