Calcutta: The difference between cricket and soccer may be as wide as the Grand Canyon, but the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to bridge the gap! Though not directly, Indian soccer is ready to take inspiration from IPL’s popularity and prosperity to revamp the status of the game in this part of the world.
The Celebrity Management Group (CMG), who gave the city one of its proudest moments when they hosted Diego Maradona in 2008, has joined hands with the Indian Football Association (IFA) to launch the Premier League Soccer (PLS) — an IPL-style franchise driven football tournament.
Though the idea is not unique, the initiative surely packs a promising potential. In a bid to plaster the worn-out reputation of Indian soccer and infuse professionalism, the Bengal-based PLS has been planned to add the much-needed zing to the game. And if one is to believe the organisers, players of international repute and high-class coaches will be fine-tuning the X-factor.
For the league, initially, six franchises will be chosen through competitive bidding for a period of 10 years. The six franchise towns selected are Calcutta, Howrah, Barasat, Asansol, Midnapore and Siliguri. The duration of the tournament, which is approved by the All India Football Federation, will be around seven weeks and the maiden edition will be held in January-March 2012.
With names such as former Dutch World Cupper Edgar Davids and Japanese icon Junichi Inamoto doing the rounds, football’s own IPL will certainly not be short on star power. Among the coaches, Philippe Troussier, who has managed Japan, Nigeria and South Africa at the international stage, is ready to add his expertise to the project.
Each team will have one icon player and three other overseas players. The icon player, according to the organisers, will preferably be a World Cupper or should have represented his country successfully. For the Indian players, the PLS will, however, look beyond the I-League with a view to promote new talent.
An overseas coach with a Fifa/Uefa ‘A’ License will look after each team.
For the franchisee license, bids will be invited from corporate houses with a minimum net worth of Rs 10 crore. According to Bhaswar Goswami, executive director of the organising group, they already have eight interested parties willing to buy a franchisee.
“At the moment there are eight business houses interested in the project… It will only increase with time as it’s quite a lucrative business proposal. Entrepreneurs beyond Bengal are also interested,” he said.
Much like the IPL, it will be mandatory for the teams to include a player from its catchment area. Also, the matches will be played on a home and away basis. All the matches (four days a week) will be played under floodlights and will also beamed live by a regional television channel.
Asked whether proper infrastructure was in place in the districts, Goswami said: “We will look after that… From temporary floodlights to proper dressing rooms, everything will be taken care of.”
On the sidelines of the Rs 25 crore project, development of youth football and a referees’ academy are also on the cards. And with a revenue sharing plan in place, the organisers assure the franchisee owners of profit.
Franchisee bids will take place tentatively in July, but before that the organisers want to finalise the foreign player pool to attract prospective buyers.
Sixes are a must for IPL. But let’s hope that the PLS plans are not hit for a six!
