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The owners of the eight city franchises of the Indian Super League (ISL) will be announced on Sunday, as per a PTI report.
Nine cities are in the running – Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune – out of which eight will be selected.
As many as 30 parties took up the bid documents with around 18 to 20 bids. Interestingly there were only 11 bids for the inaugural edition of the IPL with eight of them winning the franchises.
According to a source close to the IMG-Reliance organised league, the bidders include two Indian cricket legends, five Bollywood celebrities, three I-League clubs and five corporate entities.
Marquee players like Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg have been signed up while Kenny Dalglish is among the confirmed managers. The bids have been submitted either individually or through forming a consortium like Sourav Ganguly has done by tying up with Atletico Madrid.
“It would come as a no surprise if one hears similar high- profile international clubs coming over to India as technical partners to the rest of franchises. Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham ? who are reportedly in the fray – are known for their love for the game and their association with certain top international clubs,” the source said
