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What's the story?
The Indian Super League has entered into a partnership with sports brand Nivia. The Punjab based brand will be the supplier of the official ISL balls next season onwards.
In case you didn't know...
Ever since its start five years ago, the Indian Super League has been the premier football league in India. Although some might still say that the I-League is the true possessor of that title, others might tilt towards the ISL.
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The heart of the matter
Indian Super League and Nivia have announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership. The partnership allows Nivia to produce footballs, which will be used in the league matches next season onwards.
The announcement was made official by both ISL and Nivia, via their Twitter accounts.
Nivia has entered into a three-year deal with the Indian Super League and will begin the first year of their contract by providing their latest ball named 'Ashtang'. Literally translated, the word 'Ashtang' means eight parts joined together to produce maximum results.
Upon the agreement, Rajesh Kharabanda, NIVIA, Managing Director spoke to the ISL website, "We are elated to be associated with ISL as the official ball partner. The FIFA Pro categorised Ashtang balls are the newest edition in our professional football product stable and we are confident of upping the game in the highly competitive League environment.
"The association of NIVIA with the ISL is a constructive partnership aimed towards cultivating a strong system of developing football in India and maturing it to International level, a trend that is evident from the performance of U-20 and U-16 Indian teams recently. I would like to thank Inventive Sports for recognising the synergies and facilitating this association," said Kharbanda.
What's next?
With the latest ISL season just around the corner, teams are getting ready to mount yet another challenge at the coveted ISL crown. Time will tell whether any one of the remaining nine teams is able to steal the crown from Chennaiyin FC.
