MUMBAI: FIFA president Sepp Blatter is set to make his second visit to India next month as the world body looks to develop the largely untapped market which has been realising its potential off late.

Blatter, who had last visted India in 2007, will touchdown on India on 9 March.

"Blatter?s visit shows how much importance FIFA is giving to India," All-India Football Federation (AIFF) vice-president Subrata Dutta said in a statement. "The world body?s support in building the right kind of infrastructure in the country has been beyond our expectations."

Four football academies supported by FIFA are being built in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, Dutta said.

According to Dutta, the AIFF?s plans to bid for U-17 World Cup in 2017 will be a real changer if all goes through as per plans.

"If India becomes the host nation, we will get a direct entry into the tournament," said Dutta. "It will encourage more kids to play football and take it up as a career option. It will also enable us to develop a quality structure for the sport."

MUMBAI: The organisers of Premier League Soccer (PLS) have earned Rs 797.5 million from the sale of six franchises, signalling that even football can attract more money in a format tailored like the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Haldia completed the full circle of franchises, going to Kolkata-based entertainment company Grey Mind Communications.

Grey bought the Haldia franchise for Rs 85 million for a period of 10 years, CMG executive director Bhaswar Goswami told Indiantelevision.com. The base price for the franchise was Rs 7 million.

The team which is yet to finalise its name has roped in Argentina?s 2006 World Cup captain Juan Pablo Sorin as their icon player, while John Barnes will be their coach.

Haldia had remained unsold even though the organisers had made it mandatory to submit a tender for at least three locations. The bidders who had kept Haldia as one of the three options, successfully bagged franchises of their first preference.

Even the sixth unsuccessful bidder had not kept Haldia as one of its options. This meant that the franchise had to wait to find a franchise owner.

Goswami disclosed that the company has clubbed South Asia rights of the league with global media rights, which has been sold to international sports media company MP & Silva.

Earlier, the South Asia rights were excluded from the global rights. The deal with MP & Silva will be a mix of minimum guarantee and revenue share. Goswami, however, refused to detail the financials.

The inaugural edition of PLS featuring six teams is all set to clash with big brother IPL. The first match of the ambitious football league kicks off on 24 March while the finals are scheduled to be held on 6 May. It will, thus, collide with the cash-rich IPL which will be staged from 4 April to 27 May.

PLS, which is also India?s first franchise-based soccer league, will involve 36 matches including 30 league matches, five semi-finals on a home and away basis and the finals.

The league boasts of a prize money of Rs 20 million with winners taking away Rs 15 million while the runners-up get Rs 5 million.

The names of five other franchises that were auctioned last month have been finalised.

The five official teams are: Kolkata Camelians (team Kolkata); Barasat Euro Musketeers (team Barasat); Durgapur Vox Champions (team Durgapur); Howrah Manchester (team Howrah) and Bengal Tuskers (team Siliguri).

Meanwhile, IFA (WB) secretary Utpal Ganguli has revealed that the auction for Indian players will be refurbished by early March before the pre-season training begins.

He also stated that the work for refurbishing all the six match venues will begin soon and be completed before the beginning of pre-season camps. The IFA is considering a mix of Indian and international referees for the tournament.

Each of the PLS franchise will have a squad of 30 players maximum. This includes one icon player, two overseas players and one overseas player of Asian origin with the rest of squad comprising Indian players with six U-21, six ?catchment? (local) players and nine to 14 top Indian players.

MUMBAI: Argentina?s Hernan Crespo and Italy?s World Cup winning ex-captain Fabio Cannavaro were the biggest draw at the iconic players auction for the newly franchise-based soccer league, Premier League Soccer.

Crespo was snapped up by Barasat franchise for his base price of $840,000, while Cannavaro went to Siliguri franchise for $830,000, which is $50,000 more than his base price of $780,000.

French player Robert Pires was bought by the Howrah franchise for $800,000 on a base price of $715,000, while English player Robbie Fowler and Nigeria?s Jay Jay Okocha were bought by Kolkata and Durgapur franchises for $530,000 and $550,000 respectively.

While Fowler, who had a base price of $450,000, was subject to a bidding war between Kolkata and Durgapur, Okocha went to Durgapur for his base price.

Although the league was expected to feature six teams, the Haldia franchise, which is the sixth team, is yet to find an owner and the organisers are in the process of finding a new owner. But the organisers maintained that they were in talks with two parties who would be unveiled soon.

Altogether five iconic foreign players besides 10 overseas foreign players and five Asian players went under the hammer alongwith five coaches.

Among the five foreign players, Kolkata franchise bought Robert Egbeta (Nigeria) for $350,000, while Howrah took Jose Gabriel Rios (Bolivia) for $ 1,80,000. Santino Quaranta (USA) went to Siliguri franchise for $180,000, Jose Carlos Castillo (Guatemala) to Durgapur franchise for $80,000 and Chirstian Lara (Ecuador) to Barasat for $200,000.

The coaches for the five franchises are: Kolkata - Peter Reid for $200,000; Howrah - Fernando Couto for $240,000; Siliguri - Marco Etcheverry for $200,000; Durgapur - Samson Siasia for $210,000; and Barasat - Teitur Thordorson for $210,000.

The organisers have fixed a financial cap of $2.5 million on how much each franchise can spend every season, which means that franchises who have spent lavishly on iconic & overseas players and have exhausted half their financial purse will have to utilise their remaining purse smartly to complete their squads.

The bids for the Indian players will take place on 7 February.

Team composition:
Team Kolkata: Coach: Peter Reid (200,000); Icon: Robbie Fowler (530,000); Overseas: Robert Egbeto (350,000), Daniel Varela (120,000); Asian: Park Ji-Seung (140,000).

Team Howrah: Coach: Fernando Couto (240,000); Icon: Robert Pires (800,000); Overseas: Jose Gabriel Rios (180,000) and Diego Madrigal (120,000); Asian: Byun Yoon Chui (115,000).

Team Siliguri: Coach: Marco Etcheverry (200,000); Icon: Fabio Cannavaro (830,000); Overseas: Santino Quaranta (180,000) and Limberg Gutierrez (180,000); Asian: Hwang Gyu Hwan (90,000).

Team Durgapur: Coach: Samson Sia Sia (210,000); Icon: Jay Jay Okocha (550,000); Jose Carlos Castillo (80,000) and Alonso Solis (200,000); Asian: Kim Bong Kyeom (150,000).

Team Barasat: Teitur Thordarson (210,000); Icon: Hernan Crespo (840,000); Overseas: Christian Lara (200,000) and Joaquin Botero (180,000); Asian: Park Byoung-Gyu (90,000).

MUMBAI: Premier League Soccer, West Bengal?s franchise-based soccer league, has mopped up Rs 712.5 million through the sale of five franchises while the sixth one went unsold.

Surprisingly, the Barasat franchise has gone for a higher price than that of Kolkata, the epicentre of football. URO Infrarealty has taken the Barasat franchise for Rs 251.5 million, paying over three times the floor price of Rs 8 million.

Siliguri was the second costliest franchise, going to Ajay Consultants for Rs 180 million. The organisers had set the base price for the franchise at Rs 10 million.

Kolkata-based Camellia Group, which has interests in diverse sectors like aviation, education, and hospitality among others, bagged the Kolkata franchise for Rs 115 million. Kolkata had a base price of Rs 10 million.

The Howrah and Durgapur franchisees were bought by Syncsys Infotech and Tulip Infotech for Rs 90 million and Rs 76 million respectively.

The Haldia franchise is yet to find an owner as the bidders stuck on to their base price. Unsuccessful bidders will be given the right to purchase the unsold Haldia franchise. If they refuse, the franchise will go through a bidding process again.

All the three franchises - Howrah, Haldia and Durgapur - had a base price of Rs 7 million.

The franchises have been awarded for a period of 10 years. However, the current team owners will have a first right of refusal over the teams when the franchise term ends.

The organisers have fixed an expense cap for the season 1 of the league. While the maximum expense cap is $2.5 million, the minimum has been fixed at $2.0 million.

The organisers have also named six players -- Crespo, Sorin, Maniche, Jay Jay Okocha, Concecao, Robert Pires & Cannavaro -- who will be participating as icon players in the PLS Season I that kicks off in mid-February this year.

Each of the six franchise of PLS will be headed by world class coaches like Peter Reid, John Barnes, Samson Siasia, Marco Etcheverry, Tony Adams and Teitur Thodarson.

Said Camelia Group CMD and owner of Kolkata Team NR Dutta, "PLS will be the future of Indian football. I thank CMG and IFA for coming out 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 who will be an overseas player with great repute, preferably someone who has represented his country in international matches.

A host of quality international players have also been signed up. They 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).

The auction for foreign players will take place today in Kolkata, while the auction for Indian players will be conducted on 7 February.

As already reported, the international media rights have been sold to MP & Silva, while negotiations are on with at least three broadcasters for the South Asia rights. The organisers are targeting $5-6 million from season 1 of the PLS.

The Indian Football Association (West Bengal), the governing body of football in West Bengal, has signed a 30-year deal with Celebrity Management Group to launch the PLS on the lines of US? Major League Soccer.

MUMBAI: Kolkata-based Celebrity Management Group is targeting a revenue of $5-6 million from the first season of Premier League Soccer, a franchise-based football league in soccer-crazy West Bengal set up along the lines of America?s MLS.

"We are expecting $5-6 million from sale of commercial rights," CMG executive director Bhaswar Goswami said, adding broadcast rights will form a major chunk of the revenues followed by sponsorships.

He also informed that the company has inked a television distribution deal with international sports media company, MP & Silva. "We have signed a global media rights deal with MP & Silva, London," Goswami disclosed.
 
Without sharing the financial details of the deal, Goswami said the deal with MP & Silva is a mix of minimum guarantee as well as revenue share. "The deal will slowly build up. There is a minimum guarantee as well as revenue share," he said.

Goswami said the league will be broadcast in at least 50 countries in the first year itself. The company has identified US and Europe as key target markets for the league since a lot of international football players are a part of the league.

The fact that US and certain European countries like UK have significant population of Indian-origin also bodes well for CMG?s plans.

"That?s the kind of projection they (MP & Silva) have given us because they are big in media distribution," Goswami asserted. "We have a huge Indian population in US and Europe so these are two key markets."

CMG is also in talks with three broadcasters for the South Asia broadcast rights. The ones that the company is in negotiations with include two sports broadcasters and a non-sports broadcaster, the names of which Goswami refused to reveal.

The company had earlier this month inked a 30-year deal with Indian Football Association, the governing body of football in West Bengal, to launch PLS, which will see big names from the world of football like Italy?s World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, Arsenal legend Robert Pires, Argentinian striker Hernan Crespo, former Portugal star player Fernando Couto, former Nigerian midfielder ?Jay-Jay? Okocha, and the fourth-highest goal scorer in Premier League history, Robert Fowler in action.

The above mentioned players are also the iconic players for the league.

The company has also roped in six world class coaches for the franchises which includes Peter Reid (England), John Barnes (England), Samson Siasia (Nigeria), Marco Etcheverry (Bolivia), Colin Todd (England), Teitur Thodarson (Iceland), Fernando Couto (Portugal) and Milos Rus (Slovakia).

The six franchises for the PLS will be announced tomorrow in Kolkata. The last day for submitting tender was 22 January. According to Goswami, a lot of companies both from West Bengal as well as outside the state have shown interest in the league.

Goswami did not share any details of how many companies have actually submitted bids to buy the franchises.

Kolkata, Barasat, Howrah, Haldia, Durgapur and Siliguri are the six franchise cities that will be awarded to successful bidders for a period of 10 years.

As per the the tendering process launched by CMG and IFA, bidders who bag Kolkata and Siliguri will have to fork out a franchise fee of Rs 10 million per year. Those who bag the Barasat franchise will have to pay Rs 8 million in franchise fee per year. For Howrah, Haldia and Durgapur, the fee is Rs 7 million per year.

The bidding companies need to have a net worth of $5 million or an annual turnover (combined) of $10 million during each of the last three years as a prerequisite to bid for a PLS franchisee. It was also mandatory for the bidders to submit a tender for at least three locations.

The organisers had fixed a financial cap on minimum and maximum a franchise can spend. The maximum limit is $2.5 million, while the minimum is $2 million.

In August, CMG had for the first time in the history of Indian football organised an international friendly match between Argentina and Venezuela, which also saw footballing great Lionel Messic coming to India and playing in front of packed crowds in Kolkata. The company had netted an estimated $ 4-5 million from the friendly match.