Football Delhi forays into esports - A first for any sports association in India

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Football Delhi, which is also known as the Delhi Soccer Association, is the official governing body of football for India’s capital Delhi. It has now announced that it will be venturing into the world of esports.

The governing body has partnered up with Irony Inc., which is an esports company that specializes in developing community-first esports programs, according to a report by Talkesports.

The plan for this association is apparently to create a community of “Gamers of Delhi” with the aim to provides a gaming platform for both football and gaming enthusiasts in the state.

This makes Football Delhi the first sporting body in India to not just recognize gaming, but foray into esports. This is definitely a step forward considering the large number of gamers that are there in India. We recently reported that India had the second largest number of online video game players in the world after China.

Shaji Prabhakaran, the President of Football Delhi, said that “It is important to integrate esports into our association activities for the larger good of the game and with pandemic esports have grown significantly in India, more and more football enthusiasts are actively seeking opportunities to game and find social connection via esports. That becomes a great avenue for football stakeholders such as us to engage with the youth and bring them into our community. In keeping with Football Delhi’s mission to enable ‘access to all, we will introduce a dedicated Football Delhi Gamers platform in tie-up with Irony, with a series of tournaments to grow and engage with our fan community.’’

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Football Delhi,” said Irony Co-Founders, Ankit Bhatia, and Tushaar Garg. “Football Delhi plays an important role in promoting Delhi’s football culture and community, and we are proud to help them create a comprehensive gaming and esports program that will endeavor to bring new audiences to the beautiful game in the state of Delhi”, they added.

While online and multiplayer gaming has been present in India for decades now, it really flourished with the advent of cheap internet, and inexpensive smartphones. While PC gaming in India is still a niche community, mobile gaming has taken over in a big way which is what got India noticed with the big gaming companies in the world.

And with that came events, tournaments as well as big names for teams that formed Indian teams and participated in high-profile tournaments. Hence, it is high time Indian sports associations take notice and join the community to grow it, and also grow with it.