Delhi Dynamos FC

History

In early 2014, it was announced that the All India Football Federation, the national federation for football in India, and IMG-Reliance would be accepting bids for ownership of eight or nine selected cities for the upcoming Indian Super League, an eight-team franchise league modeled along the lines of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament. On 13 April 2014, it was announced that DEN Networks had won the bidding for the Delhi franchise. The team had entered an alliance with Dutch club Feyenoord which lasted only for one year .

The team started their campaign in the inaugural Indian Super League season on 14 October 2014 with a 0–0 draw against FC Pune City at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. The Dynamos did not experience the best of starts to their ISL campaign as they lagged behind at the last place till the 9th Round. The team rejuvenated and regrouped to climb out of the situation to finish in 5th place with a five match unbeaten run which included three wins and two draws. Delhi narrowly missed out on qualification for the semi finals falling short only by a point.

In 2015 Delhi Dynamos qualified for the first time for the semi-finals of the Indian Super League with the least number of games played in 2015.

In 2016 season, the club finished third in the league round with 21 points and lost to the Kerala Blasters FC in the semi finals.

Season 1 (2014)

The club started by announcing a technical partnership with Dutch club Feyenoord at its launch. With their help, the Dynamos put together an experienced coaching staff headed by Harm van Veldhoven.

In what later turned out to be the most high-profile signing of the Hero Indian Super League's inaugural season, the Delhi Dynamos recruited renowned Italian forward and Juventus Legend Alessandro Del Piero as its marquee player.

Other notable foreign signings included the Dutchmen Hans Mulder and Stijn Houben, Danish Duo of Mads Junker and Morten Skoubo, Belgian defender Wim Raymaekers and world's tallest goalkeeper Kristof van Hout. The league's foreign draft saw the addition of Brazilian youngster Gustavo Marmentini ( a youth product from Atlético Paranaense), Spaniard Bruno Herrero Arias, Czech players Pavel Elias and Marek Cech and the Portugal's Henrique Dinis.

At the ISL domestic draft, the club signed on the National Level Goan Player Francis Fernandes, Mohun Bagan's Adil Khan, Manish Bhargav and Shouvik Ghosh and Souvik Chakraborty.

Season 2 (2015)

In July 2015 the club made an interesting move by signing the legendary Roberto Carlos as the Manager. The Club also dissolved the technical partnership with Feyenoord for the new season in 2015.

More announcements followed the high-profile signing of Roberto Carlos. Robin Singh and Anas Edathodika were signed on during the ISL Auction on 10 July 2015 held in Mumbai. Naoba Singh, Zodingliana Ralte, Gunashankar Vignesh, Sehnaj Singh, Ravi Kumar and Prabir Das were picked out at the ISL Draft held on the same day. The club also chose to retain some of the players from its last season – Anwar Ali, Robert Lalthlamuana, Shylo Malsawmtluanga, Gustavo dos Santos Marmentini, Francis Fernandes and Souvik Chakraborty. North East United FC player Seminlen Doungel was roped in by the Dynamos along with Subhasish Roy Chowdhury of Atlético de Kolkata.

The club went with the approach of bringing big stars in the squad and signed former Chelsea player Florent Malouda and John Arne Riise in a unique style. The announcement of Florent Malouda was done by the Premier League during the West Bromwich Albion VS Chelsea on 23 Aug 2015 while John Arne Riise signing was done at the Emirates Stadium during the Arsenal VS Liverpool on 25 Aug 2015 and Liverpool F.C Legend Ian Rush presented the jersey to John Arne Riise. This made Delhi Dynamos the first Indian club to make their brand presence on the Premier League.

The club went for its first European preseason to Gothenburg Sweden and played three friendly games against local clubs Varbergs BoIS, BK Häcken and Skene IF.

Ownership

Brought in October 2016 as club's new majority co-owner, GMS is world's largest cash buyer of ships and offshore assets for recycling. GMS currently holds 80% of the ownership in club which it purchased in two installments of 55% and 25% from DEN Networks

DEN Networks a public limited company listed on the BSE is India's leading cable TV distribution company that is estimated to be reaching more than 12 million households across key states and cities of India by providing its Cable TV signals to Last Mile Operators, Distributors and numerous JV partners.

Club Crest

The logo of the Delhi Dynamos has been designed to define power, aggression and passion, which is intrinsic to football as well as to Delhi. The Lion in the crest symbolizes power. Also, the shape and mane of the Lion has been crafted in the form of a shield.

The colours used in the crest are Red and Blue. Red is associated with strength, determination and desire. Emotionally it is a very intense colour. It enhances human metabolism, which is imperative to the game too. Blue has been used to represent calmness and responsibility. The darker shade connotes strength, reliability and royalty. The subtle usage of saffron and green, on each side of ‘FC’. The saffron and green imbibe the spirit of India and the rich golden hue bordering the shield/the lion’s mane connotes richness in the club's attitude. The crest also has the historic Red Fort which means the leaders of India or the guardians of the Country.

The letter ‘D’ in the font of Delhi and Dynamos is a forward moving arrow which tells us about the forward thinking, attacking mindset of the football team.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Overall records

As of 28 November 2016

Head Coach Record

As of 28 November 2016