Bangalore, Kerala and delhi are currently only places in india apart from other i league cities which could attract fans to the stadium without much marketing and promotions. so i like these places have a team.
alecs said:
Bangalore, Kerala and delhi are currently only places in india apart from other i league cities which could attract fans to the stadium without much marketing and promotions. so i like these places have a team.
No marketing and promotions worked well for HAL... attracted 500-1000 a game.
Football is now being looked at with a lot of interest by corporate
giants such as Sahara India, Hero Motors, Jindal’s JSW Group, DSK
Shivajians, GMR, the Dubai-based Dodsal Group and IL&FS.
Their arrival is a blessing for the sport for they can afford to build their own stadiums and develop the grassroots too.
The
All India Football Federation’s Open House Meeting in New Delhi on
Tuesday, chaired by its President Praful Patel, discussed the direct
inclusion of two corporate-backed teams in the next season’s I-League,
through a bidding process.
Sunando Dhar, the I-League CEO, was
clear about one thing. With the current I-League heavily loaded with
clubs from Goa and Kolkata, he did not want them to bid for these two
new berths.
“We want to touch new bases in our objective of a
pan-Indian I-League. So we are looking at investors investing in bases
which do not have an I-League team but the amount of interest in
football is huge. For example, Kerala,” he said at the meeting.
Which
means that Southern India, which currently does not have a
representation in the I-League, is sure to get at least one of the two
slots.
“The AIFF is looking at a minimum of two teams and if the
response is good, it doesn’t mind increasing it to four,” said Shafi
Mather, the Director of Kochi-based Eagles FC, who attended the New
Delhi meeting. And this could even mean two berths for Southern India.
Apart
from Eagles, Mumbai-based infrastructure development and finance
company IL&FS, which is currently building a football-cum-cricket
stadium for the National Games at Karyavattom in Thiruvananthapuram on a
BOT basis and which it will maintain for around 15 years, has shown
interest in bidding for an I-League club from Kerala.
“IL&FS is interested in Thiruvananthapuram while we are looking at Kochi,” said Shafi.
Eyeing Chennai
Meanwhile, Chennai’s Hindustan Group of institutions is keen on bidding for a berth for its club Hindustan Eagles FC.
“We
will be bidding for an I-League berth,” confirmed Abraham Varghese, the
Hindustan- Eagles FC coach and a former Tamil Nadu Santosh Trophy star,
from New Delhi on Wednesday. “We have a university which has a ground
and we have land too…if we want, we can build a stadium for our club.
And next year, if we get into the I-League, we are planning two clubs,
one for the I-League and one for the city league.”
The Hindustan
Group took over the Madras Eagles FC two years ago and the club won the
Chennai Football Association’s first division last year and finished
eighth in the senior division after that, said the coach.
Karnataka base
Mather said Jindal’s JSW Group could be looking at Karnataka since it has operations there.
The
Southern States had three clubs in the National League (which later
became the I-League) 10 years ago. Indian Bank (Chennai), Kerala’s FC
Kochin and SBT along with Bangalore’s HAL and ITI were among the teams
in the event.
The AIFF plans to have a similar meeting in Dubai by
the end of this month to attract foreign investors from the Gulf and
Europe for the I-league.
The bidding process will take place
between March 30 and May 10 when the successful bidders will be
announced just before the players’ transfer window opens.
Comments
Didn't Venkey's mention some sort of "Blackburn Rovers Pune FC" in 2011. So they must be Pune.
As long as there is atleast 2 croporates clubs base in south india and 1 in delhi i'm ok with 4 new clubs.
Short term there will be some quantity of quality problem but long term we will have a bigger pool of players for NT.
> Arsenalkid700 said:
> Didn't Venkey's mention some sort of "Blackburn Rovers Pune FC" in 2011. So they must be Pune.
UP has 17% of India's population so interesting definitely and a big company like Sahara setting their base their is huge bonus for Indian Football.
Bangalore, Kerala and delhi are currently only places in india apart from other i league cities which could attract fans to the stadium without much marketing and promotions. so i like these places have a team.
Wonder when Hyderabad would get a team,Indian Football is missing Hyderabadi Muslim players we need to tap them.
and one in hyderbad which gmr group might get it
No marketing and promotions worked well for HAL... attracted 500-1000 a game.
Delhi and Kerala is unpredictable.
Anyway these places are better and has more potential with people who are interested in football than rest.
Potential I will agree with. These markets will be huge for I-League in the future.
I am just not to sure about now.
Southern States to benefit from AIFF move
Football is now being looked at with a lot of interest by corporate giants such as Sahara India, Hero Motors, Jindal’s JSW Group, DSK Shivajians, GMR, the Dubai-based Dodsal Group and IL&FS.
Their arrival is a blessing for the sport for they can afford to build their own stadiums and develop the grassroots too.
The All India Football Federation’s Open House Meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, chaired by its President Praful Patel, discussed the direct inclusion of two corporate-backed teams in the next season’s I-League, through a bidding process.
Sunando Dhar, the I-League CEO, was clear about one thing. With the current I-League heavily loaded with clubs from Goa and Kolkata, he did not want them to bid for these two new berths.
“We want to touch new bases in our objective of a pan-Indian I-League. So we are looking at investors investing in bases which do not have an I-League team but the amount of interest in football is huge. For example, Kerala,” he said at the meeting.
Which means that Southern India, which currently does not have a representation in the I-League, is sure to get at least one of the two slots.
“The AIFF is looking at a minimum of two teams and if the response is good, it doesn’t mind increasing it to four,” said Shafi Mather, the Director of Kochi-based Eagles FC, who attended the New Delhi meeting. And this could even mean two berths for Southern India.
Apart from Eagles, Mumbai-based infrastructure development and finance company IL&FS, which is currently building a football-cum-cricket stadium for the National Games at Karyavattom in Thiruvananthapuram on a BOT basis and which it will maintain for around 15 years, has shown interest in bidding for an I-League club from Kerala.
“IL&FS is interested in Thiruvananthapuram while we are looking at Kochi,” said Shafi.
Eyeing Chennai
Meanwhile, Chennai’s Hindustan Group of institutions is keen on bidding for a berth for its club Hindustan Eagles FC.
“We will be bidding for an I-League berth,” confirmed Abraham Varghese, the Hindustan- Eagles FC coach and a former Tamil Nadu Santosh Trophy star, from New Delhi on Wednesday. “We have a university which has a ground and we have land too…if we want, we can build a stadium for our club. And next year, if we get into the I-League, we are planning two clubs, one for the I-League and one for the city league.”
The Hindustan Group took over the Madras Eagles FC two years ago and the club won the Chennai Football Association’s first division last year and finished eighth in the senior division after that, said the coach.
Karnataka base
Mather said Jindal’s JSW Group could be looking at Karnataka since it has operations there.
The Southern States had three clubs in the National League (which later became the I-League) 10 years ago. Indian Bank (Chennai), Kerala’s FC Kochin and SBT along with Bangalore’s HAL and ITI were among the teams in the event.
The AIFF plans to have a similar meeting in Dubai by the end of this month to attract foreign investors from the Gulf and Europe for the I-league.
The bidding process will take place between March 30 and May 10 when the successful bidders will be announced just before the players’ transfer window opens.
Source - Hindu