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Delhi football fans have something to cheer for

All eyes will be on Alessandro del Piero and David Trezeguet as Delhi Dynamos take on FC Pune City today

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Alessandro del Piero (R) trains in New Delhi on Monday
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As Delhi players were entering Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Monday evening for their practice session, a teenaged fan came rushing in to thank one of the organising officials for naming a team on his city's – Delhi – name.
"Finally, I have a team of my own whom I can cheer for," was this school boy, bearing Alessandro del Piero name on his jersey, said.

The young soccer fan had a point. Despite the fact that Delhi fans had witnessed many an international match in the past – from Nehru Cup to SAFF football – they were always starved of their 'own' football team. Delhi had never won any significant trophy at the national level since winning the Santosh Trophy before independence (1944-45).

Moreover, Delhi does not even have a club good enough to qualify for the I-League. Though, Delhi Football League has three divisions – Senior, Division A and Division B – to showcase, lack of infrastructure and absence of a grass-root programme by local football association have all contributed to a serious lack of interest in Delhi's football.

The credit should go to cable TV distribution company, Den Network, for successfully launching a local team. Despite the fact that there is no player from Delhi in this Indian Super League team, there is still hope for the city's sizable football followers to again fall in love with the game and cheer for their 'own' team along the lines of Indian Premier League's Delhi Daredevils or Hockey India League's Delhi Smashers.

Delhi Dynamos have a tie-up with Dutch giants Feyenoord Rotterdam, which can count Dutch legends Ruud Gullit, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, and Robin Van Persie among its alumni. And, by bringing in coach Harm van Veldhoven, the team has truly adapted a Dutch approach to start with.

With Del Piero as their marquee player, the local fans should expect to witness a great rivalry between this Italian star of yesteryear and French star David Trezeguet on Tuesday. Delhi franchise is packed with experienced Indian stars like Anwar Ali, Steven Dias, Francis Fernandes and Souvik Chakraborthy. Whereas, Mads Junker, Morten Skoubo and Hans Mulder will add international flavour and experience to the team.

On the other hand, FC Pune City has former Greece captain Kostas Katsouranis, the captain of 2014 World Cup team, to team up with Trezeguet. Bruno Cirillo, Emanuele Belardi, Daniele Magliocchetti, Saidou Panandetiguiri, Omar Andres Rodriguez and Dudu Omagbemi complete the overseas line-up.

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