Henry, Owen in Indian Football League?

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Football superstars like Thierry Henry, Dwight Yorke, Fredrik Ljungberg, Robert Pires, Michael Owen, Louis Saha and Hernan Crespo might star in the IPL-inspired football league, set to begin in 2014. As per reports in a leading daily, Yorke, Ljungberg, Pires, Crespo and Saha have already been signed for the League, likely to be called Indian Super League, while the organizers are still in talks with Owen and Henry. Also, there were indications that Peter Schmeichel and Marcel Desailly could be hired as team managers. The three-month long tournament will be held between January and March 2014. Nine franchises including Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Pune, Guwahati and Goa have been finalized. The base price for a franchise is estimated to be Rs 25 crore. Reliance and IMG have floated a joint venture to initiate this multi-million dollar franchise-based football league in the country. Nita Ambani, the IMG-R chairperson, was quoted as saying, "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."