Kolkata : The Indian Football Association, West Bengal (IFA) – the governing body of Football in Bengal and Celebrity Management Group (CMG) – one of the leading sports management organizations in India announced today through a Press release the official bidding of the franchise tender for the upcoming Premier League Soccer for a period of 10 years. Barasat with a base price of Rs. 80 Lakhs was sold out for Rs. 25.15 Crores. Kolkata and Siliguri with the base price of Rs. 1 Crore were sold out for Rs. 11.5 Crores and Rs.18 Crores respectively. Teams like Howrah and Durgapur were sold out for Rs. 9 Crores and 7.6 Crores respectively. Haldia stuck on to their base price is yet to be confirmed by the owner to be bought.
There will also be an expense cap for the franchisee in each season and the same to be communicated to the Franchisees well before the Players Auction date. For the Season I, the Expense cap is US$2.5 Millions (maximum) & US$ 2.0 Millions (minimum). At the end of 10 years a re negotiation may take place between the existing franchisees & CMG regarding the terms & conditions & if the re negotiation is not satisfactory enough fresh bidders will be welcomed & new bidding will take place.
The organizers have also named six players among Nakata, Sorin, Maniche, Jay Jay Okocha, Concecao, Robert Pires & Cannavaro, who will be participating as ICON players in the PLS Season I which kicks off during mid February, 2012. Each of the six franchise of PLS will be headed by a world class coaches like Peter Reid, John Barnes, Samson Siasia, Marco Etcheverry, Tony Adams and Teitur Thodarson.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. N.R. Dutta, CMD, Camelia Group and Owner of Kolkata Team, said,” PLS will be the future of Indian Football. I thank CMG and IFA for coming with an unique concept and I am also looking forward to the foreign players and coaches auction.”
The exclusivity for PLS is that each team will have one Icon Player. The icon player will be an overseas player with great repute, preferably someone who has represented his country in international matches.
Beside Icon Players, a host of quality international players who have also been signed are: Joaquin Botero (Bolivia), Limberg Gutierrez (Bolivia), Christian Lara (Ecuador), Maniche (Portugal), Diego Toro (Colombia), David Cordoba (Colombia), Brian Vega (Costa Rica), Diego Madrigal (Costa Rica), Jose Carlos Castillo (Guatemala), Christopher Omoseibi (Nigeria), Robert Egbeta (Nigeria), Daniel Varela (Costa Rica), Erick Sanchez (Costa Rica), Leider Preciado (Colombia), Edwin Tenorio (Ecuador), Walter Moreno (Venezuela), Alonso Solis (Costa Rica), Fabio Firmani (Italy), Nicolas Marin (France), Moncef Zerka (France), Sammy Traore (France), Igor Hrabac (Slovakia), Matjaz Kek (Slovenia) and Diego Cabrera (Bolivia).