Indian Super League Announces New Franchise Owners in Its Journey to Revolutionize Indian Football

MUMBAI, INDIA--(Marketwired - April 13, 2014) - IMG Reliance, the joint venture between IMG Worldwide and Reliance Industries in India, Star India and the All India Football Federation, announced today the awarding of the eight new franchises that will make up the new Indian Super League. The inaugural football championship will operate between September and November beginning this year.

Termed as an unrivaled footballing event, the Indian Super League, being planned under the Football Sports Development Pvt Ltd., aims to ignite a revolution in the sport and ultimately enable Indian football to thrive and perform at the highest level on the international stage.

The Indian Super League's proposal for 'League Partners' received an overwhelming response from the business, sports and Bollywood community, to own a team from the nine proposed cities in contention. Four of the final eight cities -- Delhi, Kochi, Guwahati and Bangalore -- will find itself in the mainstream football map of the country, which is traditionally being dominated by Kolkata, Goa, Pune and Mumbai, through the high-profile professional Indian Super League.

The winning bidders represent a strong mix of corporate entities and celebrities:

• Sun Group the Indian conglomerate for BENGALURU.
• Chairman Sameer Manchanda of the cable provider Den Network for DELHI.
• Venugopal Dhoot of the industrial conglomerate Videoco, with Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas V. Dempo for GOA.
• The Indian film actor John Abraham partnering with the I-League team Shillong Lajong for GUWAHATI.
• Renowned Indian cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar and the media and entertainment investment firm PVP Ventures for KOCHI.
• Former captain of the Indian National team Sourav Ganguly, Harshavardhan Neotia, Spanish football Club Atletico Madrid, Sanjeev Goenka, Utsav Parekh for KOLKATA.
• Bollywood's Ranbir Kapoor, one of the leading Indian film actors for MUMBAI.
• Indian actor, producer, television presenter and philanthropist Salman Khan together with Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan of the Indian conglomerate Wadhawan Group for PUNE.

Ernst & Young is the designated international advisory firm and had the mandate of drawing up and validating the bid process. Each bidder was subject to strict eligibility terms and was required to submit the bids, as prescribed under the 'Invitation to Bid' document. Bids were evaluated by the jury panel in the presence of Ernst & Young representatives.