Leading La Liga club Atletico Madrid have bid for the Kolkata franchise of upcoming Indian Super League along ... Read More

NEW DELHI: Leading La Liga club Atletico Madrid , the current table toppers in the Spanish Liga, have bid for the Kolkata franchise of the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) along with former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly.

It is learnt that Atletico picked up the bid document separately as did Ganguly. However, after studying the bid and showing interest in the league, they approached the former cricketer to form a consortium to which the latter agreed.

A source in the know of developments told TOI that both the prospective bidders - Atletico and Ganguly - were aware of what each party was capable of bringing to the table and agreed to get together.

In another major development surrounding the Indian Super League, actor John Abraham and I-League football club Shillong Lajong have bid together for the city of Guwahati in Assam.

Former India football star Baichung Bhutia, who will now be contesting the general elections from Darjeeling in West Bengal, is also learnt to be partnering Lajong and Abraham. However, this could not be separately confirmed.

Meanwhile, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar is learnt to have shown interest in the Kochi franchise and is involved with Prasad Potluri-owned PVP Ventures to bid for the Kerala city. Tendulkar's interest in Kochi, however, could not be independently confirmed.

Friday was the last day for all those who had picked up the ISL tender documents to buy a franchise to submit their respective bids. A total of 30 bid documents were sold.

However, TOI has learnt that not all interested parties have decided to submit their bids individually. Some of the potential bidders got together to form consortiums - like Ganguly and Atletico - and have submitted a joint bid.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan , whose company Red Chillies Entertainment owns the Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, has also made a bid for Delhi, sources informed. Given Ganguly's popularity in Kolkata and the involvement of Atletico Madrid in Ganguly's football aspirations seem to have made Khan's team play a safer game.

Samir Manchanda of Den Networks in Delhi, real estate company Triaxis of Bangalore, UK-based company Emerging Media which owns the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals and Vivek Venugopal of the Elite Group (who had a stake in the Kochi franchise of the IPL) are also among those who are learnt to be in the fray to buy franchises.