New Delhi, Jun 21 (IANS): Football Delhi, the official governing body of the game, on Monday announced a partnership with Irony Inc., an esports company that specialises in developing community-first esports programmes.

"This partnership will create a community of 'Gamers of Delhi', which provides a gaming platform for football and gaming enthusiasts in Delhi. With Gen Z and millennials spending a sizable amount of their time on playing games and consuming esports content, the top global football leagues, associations, and teams have all launched their programs to engage the youth through esports," Delhi Football said in a statement.

"Football Delhi becomes the first Indian sports entity to venture into esports," it said.

Football Delhi president Shaji Prabhakaran said that it was important to integrate esports into our association activities for the larger good of the game.

"With pandemic esports have grown significantly in India, more and more football enthusiasts are actively seeking opportunities to game and find social connection via esports. That becomes a great avenue for football stakeholders such as us to engage with the youth and bring them into our community," he said.

"In keeping with Football Delhi's mission to enable 'access to all', we will introduce a dedicated Football Delhi Gamers platform in tie up with Irony, with a series of tournaments to grow and engage with our fan community."

Irony co-founders Ankit Bhatia and Tushaar Garg said they are incredibly excited to be partnering with Football Delhi.

"Football Delhi plays an important role in promoting Delhi's football culture and community, and we are proud to help them create a comprehensive gaming and esports programme that will endeavour to bring new audiences to the beautiful game in the state of Delhi," they said.