VIDEO: Dempo's Aniston Fernandes confident after Denmark stint

Aniston Fernandes is preparing with his Dempo Junior team mates for the Under-20 I-League starting next week in Jamshedpur. After his training stint last year with Danish side FC Midtjylland's Academy along with Myron Fernandes, Aniston is feeling confident that he is able to perform to the desired levels.

Doubts behind Indian Investments in European football Clubs

In recent months I have been asked numerous times if investments by Indian businessmen and corporate houses or by Persons of Indian Origin into European football clubs are really working out besides it being beneficial for Indian football. To be honest there is no definite answer to these difficult questions as it depends on the different reasons why such an investment is made.

Some might see it as a chance to grow their business in Europe and other markets too, some are genuinely interested in the sport of football, some even have business ambitions within India but rather take the foreign sporting route to achieve their goals.

The reasons for such investments in a professional sports team can differ, but often they will surely not be about the development of Indian football or football in India, then otherwise the money could have easily been invested directly into Indian football.

But as the current examples of Blackburn Rovers and Racing Santander show, investment alone will not do. One will have to have the deep pockets to pump further money into the team to buy quality players and develop the club overall, but also have the right management in place with the necessary knowledge to run a football team.

In Europe a lot of people are questioning the knowledge and capabilities of Indian football club owners after the terrible mismanagement by the Venky's and Ahsan Ali Syed at their respective clubs; who bought these clubs, made false promises which in the end led to relegation and an unsure future of the once respected clubs.

But there is also a positive counter model, the Mittal Family as minority stakeholders at Queens Park Rangers FC, who last season ensured that QPR would win the Championship and now ensured their Premiership status; but with the two above very negative examples many in football are saying they don't want Indian investment in the sport which displays Indian businesses and Indian football in a very bad light. Which is a very sad fact.

Other positive examples of Indian minority shareholding are FC Midtjylland by the Dempo Group and FC Vestsjælland by Anglian Holding, both in the Danish leagues. Both are inter-linked with India and the development of the game in India besides also allowing the clubs to develop themselves.

And the question will be who would now want to invest in European football in such a climate of distrust, though Indian money through sponsorship and other forms surely would surely be welcome.

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.

Dempo tie-up with Denmark's FC Midtjylland

I-League champions Dempo SC have 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. This isn't the first such partnership for an Indian club, the other partnerships have been or are with English clubs; East Bengal Club with Leicester City FC and JCT with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Under the partnership FC Midtjylland has given a commitment to help provide technical know-how, expertise in marketing and administration as well as a strong focus on youth development to raise the level of Dempo not only in India but to an Asia level. The deal has been worked out by agency New World Consulting with the two clubs.

FC Midtjylland is known to have a good youth development system in place. The best known player from the Academy is defender Simon Kjaer, who currently plays for VfL Wolfsburg in Germany. Also the club has development player partnerships with FC Midtjylland Maamobi United (Ghana) and FC Ebedei (Nigeria).

Dempo chairman Shrinivas Dempo expressed excitement over this new initiative by saying, "I am certain that this partnership will lead to a new era of cooperation that will eventually contribute to greater development of Indian football."

Dempo SC under the leadership of Dempo Group chairman Shrinivas Dempo and guidance of coach-cum-secretary Armando Colaco has been going from strength to strength over the last decade. Four National Football League/I-League titles are prove of that. The club is said to be working on plans to build an own stadium in or around Panaji to further its development.

Armando Colaco has been working on his squad over the years mostly bringing in two/three new players for specific positions with this year an exception as many players were away at the India camp for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. It shows as Dempo currently boast of having seven international players in their ranks.