Delhi United FC (formerly Delhi United Soccer Club) is an Indian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

, that competes in the FD A-Division. They play most of their home games at

Ambedkar Stadium Dr. Ambedkar Stadium is a football stadium in New Delhi, India. The stadium is named in honour of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, famous social reformer and architect of the Indian Constitution. It was earlier known as the Corporation Stadium. It also hel ...

. The club was established in 1995. They have previously participated in the

2012 Durand Cup The 2012 Durand Cup was the 125th season of the Durand Cup, the third oldest football tournament in the world, which is a knock-out competition held in India. Churchill Brothers were the current holders, having beaten Prayag United in the 201 ...

History

Delhi United Football Club, earlier named as ''Gorkha Heroes'', was founded in 1995 by Lal Bahadur Basnet. The club is affiliated with

Football Delhi Football Delhi (formerly Delhi Soccer Association) is one of the 37 Indian state football associations that are affiliated to the All India Football Federation. It is the state-level governing body of football-related sports in Delhi, India. Th ...

(formerly known as ''Delhi Soccer Association''). Gorkha Heroes were playing in lower division of DSA League till 2007, until B. S. Mehra took over the club management. In 2007, Gorkha Heroes became champions of B Division without losing a single match, and got promoted to A Division. Their superb form continued as they were crowned overall champions in 2008–09, keeping unbeaten record intact. In 2009, the name was changed to Delhi United FC. In Senior Division 2009–10 season, they defeated City FC with a score of 13–0 in a match which is still the highest scoring game in Delhi's top flight. In 2010–11, the club focused its attention to

I-League 2nd Division I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind Indian ...

and strengthened their squad by signing some top Delhi players. Their hard work finally paid off and they became champions of the Senior Division by defeating Shahdara FC in final with a score of 3–2. Delhi United gave the best performance in

Durand Cup The Durand Football Tournament, commonly known as Durand Cup, is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Shimla. Hosted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) and All India Football Federation ...

2012 by qualifying for quarterfinals by defeating ''Indian Navy'' and ''Army Greens'' in qualifying rounds. Winning the Senior Division finally confirmed their participation in I-League 2nd Division for the 2012–13 campaign. They performed well in the I-League’s second tier and were the best team from North India. Delhi United again participated in I-League 2nd Division in 2016–17 season, and secured third spot in the final round. In April 2017, Shaji Prabhakaran was appointed president, and then served as director of the club. Ahead of the

2017–18 I-League 2nd Division The 2017–18 I-League 2nd Division (known as Hero 2017–18 I-League 2nd Division, for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th season of the I-League 2nd Division, the second division Indian football league, since its establishment in 2008. The sea ...

season, they roped in Portuguese manager

Hugo Martins Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...

. Their campaign ended in the Group stages after finishing fourth with 9 points.

I-League

On 21 September 2018, it was revealed that both Mumbai FC and Delhi United FC had submitted documents for direct-entry into the I-League. On 27 January 2020, a Delhi based fan club of former

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

outfit

Delhi Dynamos Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

, ''Dynamos Ultras'' were handed over operational activities of the club. Aditya Raghav was appointed as the new team manager, and Ayush Bhuttan was appointed as the new head coach. Under the new management, club played 3 matches, before season was put on hold due to

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

outbreak.

Stadium

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

used to be the clubs' home ground for the

DSA Senior Division The Delhi Football League is organised by Football Delhi (FD) as a ladder-based State football leagues in India, state association football, football competition involving a total of #Competition structure, four divisions and over 80 teams in th ...

. It has also hosted

matches for the club. It has a capacity of 30,000 spectators.

Players

First team squad

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Current staff

Managerial record

updated on 7 April 2020 {, class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center" !Name!!Nationality!!From!!class="unsortable", To!!P!!W!!D!!L!!GF!!GA!!Win% , - , scope=row style=text-align:left, Clebson Duarte Da Silva , align=left, , align=left, 2016 , align=left, 2017 , - , scope=row style=text-align:left, Hugo Martins , align=left, , align=left, 2018 , align=left, 2019 {{WDL, 15 , align=left, {{IND , align=left, 2020 , align=left, present {{WDL, 3, 1, 1, 1, for=7, against=5

Honours

**Third place (1): 2016–17{{cite web, url=http://i-league.org/2nd-division-league/delightful-neroca-desperate-to-break-second-division-jinx/, title=Delightful Neroca Desperate To Break Second Division Jinx, website=i-league.org, access-date=18 April 2021, archive-date=24 September 2018, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924184509/http://i-league.org/2nd-division-league/delightful-neroca-desperate-to-break-second-division-jinx/, url-status=live

References

{{reflist

External links

* {{Official website {{I-League 2nd Division Football in Delhi Association football clubs established in 1995 1995 establishments in Delhi Football clubs in New Delhi I-League 2nd Division clubs