Indian Super League Football (ISL)

[MeoW]

MUMBAI: Former Arsenal, Manchester United and [COLOR=#0000FF !important]Chelsea superstars[/COLOR] like Thierry Henry,Dwight Yorke, Fredrik Ljungberg, Robert Pires,Louis Saha and Hernan Crespo could soon be playing in your neighbourhood.

Reliance and IMG have floated a joint venture to kick off a multi-million dollar franchise-basedfootball league starting January 2014. Incidentally, IMG and Reliance are also the commercial partners of [COLOR=#0000FF !important]the All India Football Federation[/COLOR] (AIFF).

The first-of-its-kind football league in the country, likely to be called [COLOR=#0000FF !important]the Indian Super League[/COLOR], will feature eight teams with marquee players from across the world along with India's national stars and club and domestic talents in the three-month tournament scheduled from January to March next year.

The franchises-to be determined through an auction early next month-will also hire legendary names like former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and World Cup winner Marcel Desailly as managers to coach these teams.

The invitation to tender document has already been floated by IMG-R and the base price to buy a franchise is learned to be around Rs 25 crore.

English football stars such as Yorke, Ljungberg, Pires, Crespo and Saha have already been brought on board for the tournament while bigger legends such as former Arsenal icon Henry and[COLOR=#0000FF !important]England's[/COLOR]Michael Owen are in talks. [COLOR=#0000FF !important]Schmeichel[/COLOR] and Desailly have also been signed up by IMG-R while more managers are negotiating their terms of joining.

To promote and broadcast the league in India and across the world, IMG-R has entered into a 10-year JV with Star India. The deal, TOI has learnt, is pegged at around Rs 1,500 crore.

Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Bangalore, Kochi, Goa and Pune have been identified as the nine venues that will be up for sale in the auction.

IMG-R chairperson Nita Ambani confirmed the development. "Having Star on board as a partner strengthens our efforts and commitment to propel Indian football to its rightful place. We see the launch of the football league as the realization of a dream of a billion-plus Indians to experience the most cherished game globally in new ways," she told TOI.

Uday Shankar, CEO Star India, said, "India is hungry for its second sport. For far too long, the Indian sports fan has waited for this revolution. Our objective is nothing short of creating a movement around football in India. We want to put India on the global map."

The eight-franchises will be determined through an auction process scheduled early next month. Indian Premier League franchise owners such as Shah Rukh Khan ( Kolkata Knight Riders), Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi Maran (Hyderabad Sunrisers), GMR Group (Delhi Daredevils) and Emerging Media (Rajasthan Royals) have shown interest in buying teams. Apart from SRK,Bollywood stars such as Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan too have shown interest. Among corporates, Air Asia's Tony Fernandes, Yes Bank chairman Rana Kapoor, the Venugopal Dhoot-owned Videocon Group, Airtel's Sunil Mittal, Anand Mahindra, Hero Group, UTV's Ronnie Screwala and Wizcraft's Sabbas Joseph are among those who are already in talks with IMG-R.

"The interest shown so far has been tremendous. Ranbir was earlier approached to become the brand ambassador but given the football fan that he is, he wanted team for himself," sources informed.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT

OVERSEAS PLAYERS SIGNED

Dwight Yorke, Fredrik Ljungberg, Robert Pires, Louis Saha and Hernan Crespo

OVERSEAS MANAGERS SIGNED

Peter Schmeichel and Marcel Desailly

BROADCAST PARTNERS

Star India - who are on board as 30% partners through a 10-year JV

BASE PRICE FOR AUCTION OF FRANCHISE THROUGH TENDER: Rs 25 crore (approx)

POTENTIAL TEAM OWNERS WHO'RE LIKELY TO BID IN THE AUCTIONS

I-LEAGUE: Pune FC-Piramals, East Bengal, JSW, Dempo-Salgaocar.

IPL: Shah Rukh Khan, GMR, Manoj Badale, Sun Group

BOLLYWOOD/CELEBRITIES: Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham/MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Abhishek Bachchan

CORPORATES

Tony Fernandes (Air Asia) QPR, Rana Kapoor (Yes Bank), Venugopal Dhoot (Videocon), Consortium of high-profile businessmen from Kerala, Sunil Bharti Mittal (Airtel), Anand Mahindra (Mahindra & Mahindra), Hero Group, Ronnie Screwala (UTV), Sabby Joseph (Wizcraft)

CONSORTIUM

Kerala-based group of businessmen

VENUES

Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, Guwahati, Goa, Bangalore, Pune.

[MeoW]

[MeoW]

[Perumthachan]

Kerala-based group of businessmen

ithil Kochi team-nu corporate bigshot, upcoming terror, Kadukocikal Subin Mathews ulpedumennu oru ashireeeeeri kettu....

[MeoW]

ithil Kochi team-nu corporate bigshot, upcoming terror, Kadukocikal Subin Mathews ulpedumennu oru ashireeeeeri kettu....

Ningalde naavu ponnairikkatte... btb Ningale kandillallo... Njan Sunday vare naatil undu...

[hitman87]

All the best for the thread!!

Hoping that this Football League ignites the football romance among Indians.

[BangaloreaN]

IPL-type Football League: Organisers Receive 'Unprecedented' 30 Bids




Anticipation around the Indian Super League football seems to be building with the organisers receiving positive response from about 30 interested parties, even as the deadline for submitting the bid documents has been extended by two days to March 26 and 27.

The original dates for submission of bid documents were March 24 (tomorrow) and Tuesday.

"Between 3rd to 21st March 2014, League organisers have recorded about 30 'Invitation to Bid' (ITB) document purchase. In terms of the numbers, this is by far the highest level of interest that any similar franchise-based sports property has garnered in India," tournament organisers IMG-Reliance said in a statement.

Some of the big names from the country's corporate world, Bollywood biggies and present sports team owners have come forward with a wish to be part of the event that promises big-ticket action.

The league was to begin in January but had to be postponed owing to scheduling problem and lack of a window.

Promising to revolutionise the sport in the country, the league has the backing of All India Football Federation, and is likely to see big names such as former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke, former Argentina striker Hernan Crespo and former England forward Michael Owen.

The nine cities in the reckoning are Bangalore, Chennai, Dehli, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Eight cities will be shortlisted.

According to sources, each team will have to present a robust business plan that includes developing grassroots talent in their city and having an academy by the next five years. The ISL also aims to reach to one million school kids in the country.

"The mandate for winning a city team in the Indian Super League had a novelty factor wherein it's not only based on the highest financial bid, but also on the bidders' proposal of a sound plan for developing football in the catchment area they wish to bid.

"This plan would also form part of the agreement that each franchise would sign with the League, and would be expected to adhere to it."

"The bid document requires an extensive groundwork which needs to be undertaken before the submission. It involves a robust business proposal and a committed five-year grassroot/ community development plan starting with 1 million in-school kids engagement plan, age group specific training, youth team and leading upto having a full-time football academy," the statement said further.

It was also said that each of the franchise owners will have to spend Rs 2 crore on grassroot development every year.

The delay in submitting bids was due to the "demanding documentation".

The winning bids announcement will take place in the second week of April. Ernst & Young, the advisory firm, has been entrusted the responsibility of evaluating the bid documents, following which the winning participants will be announced by first week of April.

[MeoW]

Kochi team ne edukaan aanu kooduthal aalukalum rangathu ullathu... 20 il 6 ennam Kochi team nu vendi aanennu aanu ariyaan kazhinjathu ... Abishek bachan okke thalparyam ulla Mumbai & Kochi aayirikkum ettavum kooduthal Vila ulla teams... Kolkatta also..

[Sal kk]

Kochi team ne edukaan aanu kooduthal aalukalum rangathu ullathu... 20 il 6 ennam Kochi team nu vendi aanennu aanu ariyaan kazhinjathu ... Abishek bachan okke thalparyam ulla Mumbai & Kochi aayirikkum ettavum kooduthal Vila ulla teams... Kolkatta also..

kolkathaku vend srk ganguly porattam undakum

[baazigar89]

Hope it will be a great success...