Club owner: "In Delhi, you could swing a dead cat. Nobody would ever know who you were. You could scream: Delhi Dynamos! Delhi what? It was a slow march of death"

Owner of Odisha FC, Rohan Sharma, started off in New Dehli but struggled to create enthusiasm for the team in the capital. He then moved the club 1.700 kilometres south east.
The club is about to enter a new phase of the strategy. “…phase two is engaging a lot of the NRIs (non-resident Indians), who miss India, who left in the 60s or 70s like my father and never really came back. This is the way to see the team grow.”
Rohan Sharma is working closely with the local government who provides Odisha FC with all sort of support – from rent-free stadium to helping out on academy-development.
New President, with experience from Glasgow Rangers and Watford, has been brought in to develop the business.
Clubs are still loosing money in Indian football, but Sharma is not worried and says that it took the MLS two decades before they were established.

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