Ronaldinho was not alone in looking at the Indian Super League (ISL) with more than just passing interest. (Reuters Photo)PANAJI: The world knows how Ronaldinho paused for a moment to look at what Indian football offered before deciding to pack his bags for Mexico. But, the Brazilian superstar was not alone in looking at the Indian Super League (ISL) with more than just passing interest. A few ambitious franchisees sounded out Michael Owen too but were put off by his expensive price-tag. The former England striker needed a minimum of Rs 14 crore to break his existing television contract and come out of retirement.
FC Pune City had no hesitation in meeting the contractual demands of Massimo Ambrosini, but the former Italy and AC Milan captain was left in two minds after Chennaiyin FC, represented by Prashant Agarwal of Kshatriya Sports, came calling. Ambrosini did not need too much convincing from Kshatriya, but could not get his family to shift to the Tamil Nadu capital for three months. Even former Spanish striker Raul Gonzalez, for that matter, had no hesitation in coming to India but, according to one agent, he would have been made to pay a "huge penalty" if he had unilaterally terminated his contract with Al Sadd in Qatar. None of the franchisees wanted to pay a transfer fee for a three-month assignment.
The Chennai franchise came into existence after Bangalore pulled out, but not before they had alerted several leading players from around the world. Former Netherlands midfielder Edgar Davids was offered a play er-cum-manager role at the Bangalore franchise, although the $400,000 (approx Rs 2.40 crore) was not enough to tempt the midfielder, famous for his dreadlocked hair and protective goggles.
Deco, the Brazilian-born Portuguese midfielder, was another big name linked with at least three ISL franchisees. FC Goa even appeared keen but with four agents claiming to represent the former European midfielder of the year, the talks never came to fruition! Before Pune FC finalized a deal with France World Cup winner David Trezeguet as their marquee player, they briefly flirted with Emile Heskey, former England striker and marquee player of Australian club Newcastle Jets.
Others who were contacted and came close to signing on the dotted line for a player or managerial role in the ISL include World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Ruud Gullit (Netherlands), Steve Clarke (Scotland), Ciro Ferrara (Italy), Eidur Gudjohnsen (Iceland), Adrian Mutu (Romania), Milan Baros (Czech Republic) and Juninho (Brazil). The Indian Super League (ISL) is set to kick off in style at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday.
A grand opening ceremony has been planned prior to the opening tie, the highlight of which will be a performance by actor Priyanka Chopra and teenaged heartthrob Varun Dhawan. Most of the star owners and co-owners of different franchisees -Abhishek Bachchan (Chennaiyin FC), Ranbir Kapoor (Mumbai City FC), Salman Khan (FC Pune City), John Abraham (NorthEast United FC), Sachin Tendulkar (Kerala Blasters) and Sourav Ganguly (Atletico de Kolkata) -will be in attendance.
Even the presence of MS Dhoni and his deputy Virat Kohli, co-owners of Chennaiyin FC and FC Goa, respectively, can't be ruled out though they are in the midst of an ODI series against the West Indies.
The programme - to be attended by Union minister of youth affairs and sports Sarbananda Sonowal, ISL's founder chairperson Nita Ambani and Reliance India Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani among others - will portray the cultural diversity of the country through the medium of music. Eight maestros, representing the eight teams, will take centrestage along with 160 musicians. Representing Kolkata will be Bickram Ghosh, while Sivamani will represent Chennai and Aslam Dafrani Delhi, while Bondo and Taufiq Qureshi will represent Goa and Mumbai, respectively.
Foreign referees for first match:
The opening Indian Super League clash between Atletico de Kolkata and Mumbai City FC in all certainty will be officiated by foreign referees in Kolkata on Sunday.
According to sources within the All India Football Federation, three foreign referees, all from the United States, are expected to arrive in India to be part of the ISL referees group.
The ISL officiating group consists of 24 referees with Chris Penso, Eric Boria and Mark Cahen being the three foreign representatives. The referees belong to the Professional Referee Organization of US Soccer. "Refereeing duties for the opening match are not marked as yet but most likely it will be the foreign trio who will be officiating," a source told TOI.
Boria, 39, is the most famous among the visiting referees having officiated at the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil. Chris Penso made his refereeing debut in 2008, while Mark Cahen famously officiated a International Champions Cup clash between AC Milan and Chelsea FC.
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