Former India cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Bollywood actors Salman Khan and John Abraham, were among the host of high-profile winning bidders of the much-anticipated Indian Super League.
- ISL: Tendulkar, Ganguly, Salman win bids, kick-start football innings
- 'ISL will change Indian football for good'
The organisers of the tournament -- IMG-Reliance -- unveiled the eight franchises for the football extravaganza in Mumbai on Sunday.
Tendulkar bagged the Kochi franchise along with PVP Ventures, which also owns a team in the Indian Badminton League, while Ganguly won the bid for Kolkata.
The tournament has gathered a lot of attention since it was announced about a couple of years ago.
However, the moot point here is: do we need another football league in India?
We already have a National league – the I-League, which no one really is interested in unless one's an ardent, ardent Indian football supporter.
Why then another league?
Reliance could have just invested that money to spruce up the I-league a little.
They could have also used those resources to hire better coaches, physios, work on infrastructure and encourage and work on players at the grassroot level.
The ISL is promising to bring big names like David Beckham, former Arsenal greats Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg to play in the tournament.
Practically thinking, even if the big names come, will those old legs of Beckham, Pires and the likes actually play more than 15 minutes of a game?
So, we ask you, dear readers, will the Indian Soccer League help Indian football?
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