‘Super’stars kicks off Indian Super League in style

The proposed Indian Super League finally got its wheels rolling with a grand opening as big names from various fields got the ownership of the teams that are set to compete in it. With eight teams set to lock horns in the inaugural edition of the ISL, which is scheduled to kick-off in the month of September this year, the ownership of the teams was stake on Sunday. There was quite a healthy competition between the bidders amongst whom few got the desired results and few perished.

Initially there were 30 bidders for 8 teams. And in the end 12 of them got hold of the teams, few in partnerships and few single-handedly. The powerhouse of Indian football Kolkata and Kochi got iconic owners in the names of Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar respectively. While Sourav had business tycoons like Harsh Neotia (Ambuja Realty Group) and Sanjiv Goenka (the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group) beside him as co-owners, Tendulkar had the owners of PVP Ventures as his partner. Spanish giants Atletico Madrid and Utsav Parekh, another businessman, joined hands with Sourav Ganguly and the Ambuja Group to own the Kolkata franchise. Sources revealed that Sourav Ganguly and co had a great battle in hand in winning the bid for the Kolkata franchise as Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Shahrukh Khan and Zee Group were also in contention for getting the ownership rights.

Sachin Tendulkar along with the PVP Ventures also had to fight hard for getting hold of the Kochi franchise as sources has revealed. “Like Calcutta, the Kochi franchise has also become a high-profile one with the presence of Sachin Tendulkar”. The source claimed that, “It was finally settled for something between Rs. 35 to 37 crores. There was another bidder, who had Mohun Bagan as technical partners. But they lost in the end. PVP Ventures are currently the owners of the Hyderabad franchise in the Indian Badminton League.

The owners of the IPL franchise of Hyderabad got hold of the Bengaluru franchise as he reportedly out-bidded Abhishek Bachchan in the race to own the franchise. The Delhi franchise will be owned by Den Network headed by Sameer Manchanda. Businessman Dattaraj Salgaocar, Dempo sports club owner Shrinivas Dempo teamed up with Videocon to win the ownership rights of the Goa franchise.

Ranbir Kapoor was one of the Bollywood stars who got his named enlisted among the owners of the 8 teams as he got hold of the Mumbai franchise and will be co-partnered by BimalParekh. Salman Khan was not too far away as he became the co-owners of the Pune franchise along with the Wadhawan Group. John Abraham, who is quite popular for his interest in football, also became a co-owner. Guwahati will be his team and will be accompanied by the I-League team Shillong Lajong’s owner as partner.

Although the teams finally got their owners and a tentative date got for the kick-off got announced, no final decision of foreign player recruit was taken. Till now it stands that each team will have one marquee player in their team. And the players who have a possibility of coming are Michael Owen, Hernan Crespo, Thierry Henry, Luis Figo and few other recently retired top internationals.

Few organizers commented, “Our aim is to take football to a higher level in India … Some of the leading footballers from other continents would be roped in to make it a success”. However there are great possibilities that the Indian Super League will create a lot of problems for the I-League, which is the official championship of India, as presence of spectators are already getting counted day-by-day. And with the beginning of a star-studded football tournament this could well bring tough days for the AIFF to keep this tournament running albeit the comment made by the AIFF officials that I-League will remain the nation’s biggest championship.

Also there will be prayers going on among the followers of Indian football so that the Indian Super League does not take the form of the Indian Premier League.

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About Argha Ghosh

An ardent follower of sports and die-hard Manchester United fan, Argha's ultimate dream is to watch a Manchester derby from the Stretford End at the Old Trafford.