Odisha FC : The story of Shifted Club

ISL is the new born football league system for modern India. From the beginning eight teams have participated and it would not be fair if the capital of this country did not have any teams. Not necessarily the decision was good for the team. The team brought some of the greatest names like Maluda, Roberto Carlos in football and also performed well. But all the hard work was in vain as there are no such spectators to support the team. This is the scenario of Delhi. They failed to bring audience in the ground despite of such great players. Something needed to be changed in the ecosystem.
The demographics of Delhi are not meant for Football and community did support the sport .So why the Delhi football was not gaining popularity. The owners are concerned with this problem and came up with a beautiful solution. On 31 August 2019, Delhi Soccer Private Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Odisha, to shift the home base from the national capital New Delhi to Bhubaneswar. They also rebranded the franchise to Odisha FC. They also mutually agree to make youth system, youth football development program and grassroots football development program will be based in Odisha.
The change is not only about the home base. It contains colour of kits and logo. The logo is derived from the Sun temple of the Konark in Odisha . The final kit is of white and blue in colour. Started their journey as Odisha Fc they made their venue of game at Kalinga Stadium of Bhubaneswar. Unfortunately when the league started in 2019 the first three home games were played at at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune due to unavailability of the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
In the first season in 2019 the start was not so good and ultimately bagged the sixth place in the end of league. But the shift from Delhi made a huge impact in the team and that is in support. The owners got the support of locals in Odisha. They form a supporters group, named The Juggernauts after lord Jagannath. The Juggernaut is defined as a large powerful force that could not be defeated.
Although their first season was not so great they are planning to make a blast in the next season. With a mixture of good foreign and Indian players they are ready to roll in the ISL 2020. The head coach of the team is Stuart Baxter along with Steven Diaz as the assistant coach. With hese managers in the back they are hoping to deliver great performance in the field.