The first-of-its-kind football league, likely to be called Indian Super League, will feature 8 teams with top ... Read More

MUMBAI: Former Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea superstars 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-based football league starting January 2014. Incidentally, IMG and Reliance are also the commercial partners of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

The first-of-its-kind football league in the country, likely to be called the Indian Super League, 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 England's Michael Owen are in talks. Schmeichel 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.