Delhi Dynamos’ owner Dr Anil Sharma speaks at a dinner co-hosted by Aspire Academy at Torch Hotel in Doha.
Doha: Indian football is set for ‘phenomenal’ growth both on and off the field and a day is not far when an Indian will be playing in one of the top leagues of the world, Delhi Dynamos’ owner Dr Anil Sharma said yesterday.
Speaking at a dinner co-hosted by Aspire Academy in Qatar, Sharma said: “Indian players are talented. With the help of foreign coaches and leading academies like Aspire, in the next 5 years more than one player will play in a major foreign league of the world. Imagine what happens to Indian football at that time. The jump in Indian audiences will be absolutely extraordinary.”
The event hosted by Delhi Dynamos - an Indian Super League (ISL) club at the Torch Hotel, was an opportunity for the visitors to meet, interact and network while forming and creating new relationships with key stakeholders in Qatar and the Arab region.
The Indian-born US citizen, former university professor-turned businessman, was addressing a meeting which was attended by the Indian Ambassador to Qatar P Kumaran, Ivan Bravo, Director General of Aspire Academy and a large of Indian businessmen, besides the team members of the Delhi Dynamos.
The potential for growth of football in India is phenomenal, he added.
“About 175 million people watched the ISL last year. As a country of few sports which has been dominated by the IPL and cricket, Indian youth are gravitating towards football. In fact, I believe that the opportunity for growth of football will be a phenomenon of historic proportions.”
Sharma said more growth is projected in the next five years.
“I know what I say sounds unbelievable exaggeration, but when you look back at the history of sports and nations, the uniqueness of sports in India and compare it with the emerging technologies in the delivery of sports, the passion that sports ignites and moving from one main sport of cricket to global sports like football, the growth projection makes sense. Once we reach this tipping point, which we predict in the next 5 years, the sky is the limit,” he said.
The Delhi Dynamos team is in Doha for their pre-season training which ends on September 19. The team is set to play a couple of friendly matches against Qatari clubs as they prepare for the fifth season of the ISL.
