PTI
KOLKATA, May 7
The Kolkata franchise of the much-anticipated Indian Super League was on Wednesday christened Atletico de Kolkata, taking a cue from their Spanish co-owners and UEFA Champions League finalist Atletico de Madrid.
Owner and CEO of the Champions League finalist Miguel Angel Gil Marin along with his city based co-owners former India captain Sourav Ganguly, industrialists Harsh Neotia, Sanjiv Goenka and Utsav Parekh unveiled the team but said they were yet to finalise the jersey as it has to get an approval of the ISL.
There’s also a proposal to get the Atletico Madrid squad to play a friendly match here once the city team is formed.
“We are also looking for a pre-season training in Madrid for the Kolkata franchise,” Neotia said.
Also unveiling the name of the consortium as the Kolkata Games and Sports Private Limited, the five partners pledged to take Indian football to the next level.“Atletico breathes football, lives around football. It’s a great idea to expand our brand and reach a new market. India are China are huge markets. Atletico also collaborates in different countries through Alteitco de Madrid foundation. We will try to support many kids who want to develop football.
“We are trying two different ways, one through academy and another side through the franchise and play professional football,” Miguel said handing over an official La Liga football with autographs of the team members.
The Atletico officials also handed each of the four city owners their official Atletico Madrid jerseies with their respective names but a common number of 19 — which belongs to their most popular player and captain Diego Costa.
“It will be a proud moment for us if we can take the Indian football to where it belongs. It will be a great moment for us if one day a Kolkata footballer is able to represent Atletico Madrid. We are planning to build an academy here and give them a window of an opportunity,” Ignacio Aguillo, director of corporate development at Atletico, said.
Ganguly said, “Our club will try and bring together the best talent to form a team with the driving thought of ‘playing to win’. Kolkata has been central to football in our country and our objective is to ensure that we re-gain the position.
“This time round, the difference will be to give football audiences a level of play which is par international and creates a pride and passion similar to what we see for global leagues and tournaments.”
Asked why they chose to invest in a country whose ranking hovers around 150 and FIFA had termed them a ‘sleeping giant’, Aguillo said: “You have a massive population and if you combine that with passion and discipline, you are bound to have results. We have seen that in many countries.”
Giving example of world champions Spain, he said, “They don’t have population but they have achieved with the right infrastructure and discipline. There is no reason why India can’t live up to its true potential. It’s numbers game at the end of the day.”
