Tata Steel and JSW Group win bids for two new teams
The wait is over as the
Indian Super League (ISL) has added two more franchises to become a ten-team
competition. ISL would now be played in 10 cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Margao,
Kochi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Pune, Bengaluru and Tatanagar. India’s conglomerates Tata Steel & JSW
Group win bids for two new teams.
Steve Coppell to join Tata Group’s football team
Steve Coppell to join Tata Group’s football team
After successfully establishing Indian football in the global arena and
achieving the rare milestone of being the third most attended football league
globally, the three-season young Indian Super League is positioned to provide
exponential growth to the sport in India. Much to the popular demand of a
longer Indian Super League and Football Sports Development Limited’s (FSDL)
objective of spreading the beautiful game to India’s vast geography, the ISL in
its fourth edition will witness an expanded five-month module with number of
participating clubs increasing to ten from its original eight founding member
city clubs.
Football Sports
Development Limited – the joint venture between IMG- Reliance & Star India
today announced the addition of two of India’s largest conglomerates Tata Steel
Ltd. – a US$ 18.12 billion company and subsidiary of Tata Group (US$ 103.51
billion 2015-16) and Jindal South West (JSW) Group – US$ 9 billion corporate
into the fold of Indian Super League.
The inclusion of two new
clubs came through the ‘Invitation To Bid’ tender process floated by FSDL last
month. An independent panel along with consulting firm EY evaluated the bids to
present its report today to the panel, in the presence of All India Football
Federation General Secretary Mr Kushal Das.
Sunil Chhetri goal against Kyrgyzstan video
Sunil Chhetri goal against Kyrgyzstan video
Tata Steel Ltd., which
has won the bid to participate in ISL from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand are named as "Jamshedpur FC". Tata are the
pioneering Indian corporate to have provided national football with perennial
pool of young footballers since 1987 through its Jamshedpur based facility –
Tata Football Academy.
Speaking on the
occasion, Mr Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President Corporate Services, Tata Steel and
Chairman TFA, said: “This is a momentous occasion for Tata Steel, which has
always been a pioneer in the development of sports in the country, especially
football. Our entry into the coveted Indian Super League reinforces our
commitment to provide a fillip to the development of football in the country.
We are extremely excited to have won the bid for our hometown Jamshedpur and
will provide the best of facilities for football to prosper in the eastern part
of our country”.
JSW Group which owns the
successful football club Bengaluru FC through its subsidiary JSW Sports won the
right to participate in ISL from Bengaluru city. JSW Group has to its credit
established a very successful and professionally run football club in I-League
within a short period of 3 years; winning the competition twice including in
its debut year.
Parth Jindal, CEO, JSW
Bengaluru FC attributed JSW Group’s decision to bid for an ISL team to the
“interest of long-term future of Indian football.”
Mr Jindal said, “We’re
glad that our bid to be part of the ISL has been accepted. A lot of time and
thought has gone into our decision of wanting to be part of the Indian Super
League. The biggest factor has been the interest of the long-term future of
Indian football. A longer league is the right road ahead.”
Mr. Kushal Das, General
Secretary, AIFF expressed satisfaction on the bid evaluation process, saying,
“The interest shown by India’s two large corporates to be part of ISL and
Indian football’s growth story is an indication of the growing popularity of
the sport in the country. Their contribution to Indian football has been
immense and will only set the high standards in ISL.”