Dempo Group buys stake in Danish club FC Midtjylland

In April 2011 Goan giants Dempo SC entered into a partnership with Danish Superliga side FC Midtjylland to develop its young elite players, but also work on the overall development of the club. Now that tie-up is set to become much more with the Dempo Group buying a 34 percent stake in the Danish club to strengthen their ties in the interest of Dempo SC and Indian football.



A release from FC Midtjylland said, "Leading Goa-based Indian industrial group, Dempo, with interests in soccer promotion has effected a Share Subscription Agreement with prominent professional Danish soccer club and academy, FC Midtjylland, based in Herning and Ikast."



Dempo Group will make an investment of around 12 Million Euros (approximately Rs 80 crore) to take a 34 percent stake in the clubs parent company FC Midtjylland Holdings AS with an Indian presence on the board of the club.



"The investment marks the moment when intent turned into commitment. It's kick-off time for the Dempo foray into truly international football. Our agreement is aimed at raising the playing standard of Indian soccer, and this tie-up with a first-rate European academy and team shall spur the development of the game even faster," said Dempo Group chairman, Srinivas Dempo.



Soren Bach, CEO of FC Midtjylland, said: "It's a historic day for FC Midtjylland and the start of a new era for the club. The agreement enables us to add value to the continuity of our soccer team and retain our own playing talent longer. We can enhance the level of talent development, and begin truly to internationalise the academy."



So far the technical partnership between the two sides has been very fruitful with the Dempo SC technical staff impressed by the infrastructure and technical expertise available at FC Midtjylland.



Now Dempo's will want to utilise all this knowledge and manpower to make their club Dempo SC a real professional outfit and enable talented, young Indian boys to get into Europe at a young age to develop as professional footballers, which hopefully will also help Indian football to develop further.