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Tag: Cristiano Ronaldo

  • Sourav Ganguly opens up on Sachin’s superiority on the “Champions Sports-Cast” hosted by DreamSetGo

    Sourav Ganguly opens up on Sachin’s superiority on the “Champions Sports-Cast” hosted by DreamSetGo

    Mumbai: With the ICC WorldCup & Football fever picking up once again, DreamSetGo hosted an interview starring former Indian Cricketer Sourav Ganguly at the “Champions Sports-Cast” hosted by DreamSetGo founder Monish Shah.

    He spoke on leadership, Sachin Tendulkar, His love for the game, His inspirations – Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev & Allan border & a certain football icon, the legendary Maradona.

    Speaking at the Champions Sports-Cast podcast hosted by DreamSetGo, Ganguly spoke about his friendship with Tendulkar, “I first met Sachin when he was 14 years old at the MRF pace academy & over time we would go on to spend 6-7 months in a year together and developed a close friendship and trust over time. As a cricketer, he was a far superior cricketer than me, and that is something I strongly believe in. , To raise your game, you must partner with those better than you and we continue to be very close friends.”

    As a lifelong fan of legendary footballer, Maradona, Ganguly shared, “I remember I first met him at an interview he was doing with the media and I’m not exaggerating one word when I say it was a 20-minute interview and through it all, he was juggling a ball with his left leg and didn’t drop it once.  I’ve seen Messi, Ronaldo & even Pele play but Maradona was special, he was blessed by the Almighty.”

  • Viacom18 Sports announces content lineup for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

    Viacom18 Sports announces content lineup for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

    Mumbai: Viacom18 Sports has announced an expansive content lineup offering viewers compelling storytelling around famous rivalries, revered heroes, seminal moments, and the stories of ardent FIFA World Cup fans in the run-up to the 2022 edition, which will be held in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December.

    The programming on Sports18-1 and JioCinema began with FIFA World Cup 2022: Road To Qatar, a 16-episode show profiling the 32 teams qualified for the World Cup. Through shows like Football Goal’D Super 16 and The Fantastic Lives of Footballers, the build-up programming includes the on-field and off-field exploits of World Cup superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappe, and many more.

    Viacom18 Sports will provide a platform for die-hard football fans by producing original content. Flavours of Football in India will take viewers through unheard and extraordinary fan stories from the country’s football hotbeds. Football Adda, a Bengali chat show centred on the FIFA World Cup, will give state fans a platform to support their favourite teams and players.

    Viacom18 Sports content head Siddharth Sharma said, “The FIFA World Cup is a total communal experience, and we want to offer content that brings everyone across the country together to enjoy the world’s greatest show.”

    He further said, “Our programming across five languages will cater to a wider audience and complement the never-seen-before extensive live coverage of the event on JioCinema, which is now available to download for all telecom subscribers.”

    The likes of Patrick Kluivert, R Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh, Jonty Rhodes, Shane Bond, Scott Styris, Brad Hodge, and Chirag Shetty, among others, recall their favourite FIFA World Cup moments in Hero Speak for sports fans to enjoy. All of the captivating content will be spread across JioCinema, Sports18 – 1 SD & HD, and Sports18 Khel.

    The pre-game and post-game shows on the Viacom 18 Sports network will also feature well-known World Cup heroes and provide an in-depth preview and analysis of all 64 games. All viewers can watch the global marquee competition on JioCinema from 20 November through 18 December, inclusive. Sports18 – 1 SD & HD and Sports18 Khel will both be broadcast on TV.

  • La Liga onboards Khelraja as its official Asian igaming partner

    La Liga onboards Khelraja as its official Asian igaming partner

    Mumbai: Highlighting its commitment to the igaming experience, Khelraja, Asia’s real-money gaming brand that offers sports betting, casino, and esports among other categories, has partnered with La Liga team Sevilla FC. It is its official Asian igaming partner. Through the association, which will run until 30 June 2024, Khelraja will provide its users the opportunity to engage with all La Liga and Copa del Rey matches featuring Sevilla FC and win rewards.

    Sevilla FC president José Castro said, “We are very pleased to have signed this agreement which will allow us to continue growing in our process of internationalising our brand, both globally and in Southeast Asia, a market that we consider strategic in our expansion process. Sevilla is going to become an ambassador of LaLiga with this sponsorship agreement, and we are undoubtedly taking an important step in this region.”

    The Spanish First Division, known as La Liga, has, over the last two decades, featured global superstars such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The partnership between Sevilla and Khelraja provides these fans with an opportunity to further elevate their engagement and experience sports immersion.

    Khelraja CEO Viren Modi said, “The passion for football in India is on the rise, as can be seen in the growing popularity of overseas football leagues. Partnering with Sevilla FC, one of the biggest and most illustrious clubs in Spanish football, is a moment of great pride for us. The association will provide football fans on the Khelraja platform with yet another avenue to not only engage with Sevilla FC’s games online but also win lucrative rewards while doing so. We are looking forward to the partnership and will be exploring more such engagement opportunities with other football clubs, both in India and overseas.”

    Sevilla FC has a history spanning more than 130 years. It is the oldest club in Spain dedicated to football and has, since its founding in 1890, won one league title, five Spanish Cups, one Spanish Super Cup, and one Uefa Super Cup. Sevilla FC also holds the distinction of winning the Uefa Europa League (previously called the Uefa Cup) a record six times, with the most recent victory coming in the 2019-20 season.

  • Man Utd vs Newcastle was most viewed PL match in last 5 years: Star Sports

    Man Utd vs Newcastle was most viewed PL match in last 5 years: Star Sports

    Mumbai: The match between Manchester United and Newcastle United on 11 September, which marked the return of Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo, garnered four times the reach of an average Premier League match this season, according to data by Star Sports. It became the most viewed game of the Premier League in India over the past five years, the channel said.

    The hosts (Manchester United) led a 4-1 victory against Newcastle United at the Old Trafford stadium. Ronaldo’s return has been eagerly anticipated at Old Trafford after he signed a stunning deal with Man United that booked his ticket back from Juventus.

    Manchester United will next square off with Aston Villa at Old Trafford on 25 September.

    Star Sports has launched a campaign ‘Sunday Night Football’ to bring viewers the best of footballing action. The viewing-friendly Sunday night primetime slot will air some of the most anticipated matches of the Premier League. The broadcaster steps into regionalisation with dedicated feeds in Bangla and Malayalam for key Premier League matches over the weekend.

  • La Liga aims to be India’s second favourite tournament: Jose Cachaza

    La Liga aims to be India’s second favourite tournament: Jose Cachaza

    MUMBAI: La Liga was the most talked topic in football after FIFA World Cup in 2018 because of its first-of-its-kind deal with Facebook for three years for the Indian subcontinent. In the past couple of years, La Liga’s main focus has been to promote Spanish football beyond its borders, with the aim to create a community of fans around the world.  

    With this aim La Liga now has nine international offices: two in China (Shanghai and Beijing), one in South Africa (Johannesburg), Nigeria (Lagos), the United States (New York), the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), India (New Delhi), Mexico (Mexico City) and Singapore.

    Talking about the deal with Facebook, La Liga India MD Jose Cachaza said, “We are doing what’s never done before. Both La Liga and Facebook are very happy looking at how the project is evolving and we hope that our relationship with Facebook will be a long and fruitful one. The figures are really positive till now. We are changing the way Indian fans watch football.”

    While the 380 matches were to be available for free to people on Facebook in eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Facebook and SPN reached an agreement wherein the broadcaster earned the right to air over 100 games via its sports cluster.

    La Liga delegate India Gary Udhwani said, “Our mission is to increase the brand value and brand image not only of La Liga but also of all the clubs. In India, we have many objectives which include increasing revenues and being closer to our fans but our main aim is to contribute to the local growth of football because if football grows here, La Liga will automatically grow. We like to be the second most popular league in any country after their local league.”

    The total revenue earned in the 2016/17 season by LaLiga amounted to €3,662.3 million, which represents an increase of €494.6 million (15.6 per cent) compared to the previous season.

    “India is the fastest growing economy in the world. We all know that cricket is the country’s favourite sport. While 80 per cent of the live sports audience comes from cricket, football is already the second most watched sport on Indian television,” Cachaza added.

    In the last four seasons, LaLiga has increased its international presence around the world. Institutional relations have been reinforced with federations, leagues and even governments, with whom MoUs have been signed.

    LaLiga has also invested a great deal of human and technical resources in the protection of its audiovisual rights. The sale of these rights accounts for a large part of the income received by football clubs and LaLiga has a duty to protect its value.

    La Liga’s enterprising foundation organises a multitude of Corporate Social Responsibility projects that aim to spread the values of CSR of professional football in society. In order to do this, LaLiga allocates €67 million per year to CSR work, thus becoming the highest contributor among the European leagues in social matters.

    The LaLiga Foundation is working on unique projects, in which football values take centre stage and are transferred to all corners of the world. These projects are being carried out on a budget of $4.9 million (4.25 million Euros) for the 2018-2019 season.

    Cachaza pointed out that the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t affect La Liga. But if we look at the numbers provided by BARC India, the movement of Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus did indeed affect viewership. El Clasico’s impressions dropped down from 4 million to 2 million, but on the other hand, Serie A viewership doubled. The El Clasico's number do not include the impressions garnered on Facebook.

    Football associations are also fighting piracy. On 23 January, a joint statement from the Asian Football Confederation, Bundesliga, F.A. Premier League, FIFA, LaLiga and UEFA was issued against beoutQ, regarding illegally screening matches of AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019. The statement read, “Collectively we, as rights-holders in various football competitions, condemn the pirate entity beoutQ, which continues to abuse the operations of rights holders and legitimate broadcasters through its persistent and illegal screening of events for which it has made no effort to secure the rights; the latest example of which is the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019.”

  • Football viewership up 7% in 2018 from 5% in 2016

    Football viewership up 7% in 2018 from 5% in 2016

    MUMBAI: After Star India took the initiative to boost a variety of sports in India, other broadcasters also picked up their shovels to dig deep. It has made a sincere effort in the turnaround of Indian football with participation (to build culture), incentivisation (to build careers), and commercialisation model (to drive in viewership) which are the three building blocks to development.

    Delivering a keynote address at the Star Sports India Football Forum 2018, an initiative by SportzPower, Star Sports head marketing Rajiv Mathrani said, “The best way to predict the future is to dream it. India is not too far from playing FIFA World Cup with the increase in the number of teams, the ranking in which we are and the young talent which is coming along.”

    All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das said that AIFF will very soon launch a school-level project along with the game’s world governing body FIFA.

    According to BARC data, FIFA WC final garnered 16 million impressions in India and stood at fourth place. China (56 million impressions), Germany (21 million impressions) and France (19 million impressions) were ahead of India.  

    BARC India head- partnerships Elbert D’Silva said, “If we look at football, in 2016 the sport garnered 2 billion impressions and now till October 2018, it has garnered 3 billion impressions.”

    Football viewership has gone up from five per cent in 2016 to seven per cent in 2018.

    As of now, there are 836 million viewers who watch television across India. Out of these 836 million viewers who have access to television, 791 million or 95 per cent have consumed some sporting content across multiple TV channels. If we look at football numbers, 498 million people have sampled some content related to football in the country.

    According to D’Silva, the movement of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus has affected the viewership. El Clasico’s impressions dropped down from 4 million to 2 million, but on the other hand, Serie A viewership doubled.

    The sports revenue in India has increased from $0.9 billion in 2016 to $1.1 billion in 2017, whereas North America has seen a spike in the revenue from $15.7 billion in 2016 to $16.2 billion in 2017.

    SPN India EVP and head digital business Uday Sodhi thinks that this year’s FIFA WC has really made football mainstream in India. “The only difference for OTT is that this is a newer medium, the forms of monetisation and the way you monetise will take more time to get established,” Sodhi added.

    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik said, “With multiple services coming in one set top box, the day is not too far when the gap between traditional TV and OTT will change.”

    SonyLiv has a large sports footprint, football is growing 150 per cent y-o-y, basketball is growing 3-5X. Sodhi believes that India will have a freemium business going forward to a large extent. There will be a significant amount of advertising play and subscription will then be able to create a niche for itself for premium content.

  • La Liga ahead of the curve with Facebook deal: Jose Cachaza

    La Liga ahead of the curve with Facebook deal: Jose Cachaza

    MUMBAI: As the new wave of acquiring rights is shifting from broadcast to OTT players and social media giants, La Liga is the most recent example which has been acquired by Facebook and sub-licensed to Sony Pictures Network (SPN) India. The Spanish premier football league has launched its football school focussing on grassroots programme in Delhi in the first week of October and then in Kerala recently. In Delhi, the school was inaugurated by former French international and Arsenal legend Robert Pires.

    Apart from Kerala and Delhi, La Liga is planning to open centres in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

    Indiantelevision.com caught up with La Liga India MD Jose Cachaza to talk about the league’s expansion plans and the strategy behind partnering with social media giant Facebook.

    He believes that they are little ahead of the curve from others because it is the way broadcast is going as major companies are getting strongly into sports and OTT is taking a lead role in various countries.  Cachaza also believes that the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo has had no effect on the viewership and sponsorships of the league.

    Excerpts:

    How do you plan to expand the popularity of La Liga in India?

    This is an ongoing project that we started two years ago and we are working in different ways. There are two sides of our work; one that is quite central is our digital project for India. Digital is the most direct way of interacting with fans today, especially considering the penetration of digital communications in India. Two years ago, we had 300,000 followers on social media and today we have reached 3.3 million followers. Digital allows us to not only give information directly to our fans but also to get feedback from them. Our broadcast agreement with Facebook strengthens this strategy.

    We cannot forget of course the relationship with fans so we do a number of activities involving the fans like the public viewings. We just announced the next big public viewing of the upcoming El Clasico in Kolkata on October 28. They have been successful in the past two years in New Delhi and Mumbai and now we are going to Kolkata, which is the modern heartland of football. We want to get there and bring the excitement of the El Clasico to the Bengali fans. Last year in New Delhi, we had 20,000 people showing up and we hope there will be more in Kolkata.

    We are also now bringing to India our network of Football Schools. We are starting with 33 La Liga Football Schools in more than 10 cities and almost 4,000 kids training with us. This project is important to us because we are our philosophy of football, the Spanish way of understanding the game, head coaches who are La Liga trained and UEFA certified coaches. We decided to bring the joy of playing football to thousands of kids and we will leave a legacy of dozens of coaches trained with our methodology and philosophy of football.

    We are bringing legends to India like Fernando Morientes, Luis Garcia, Christian Karembeu, Gaizka Mendieta, Robert Pires and Steve McManaman. We are doing many things and a lot more to come.

    What is the rationale behind going with the social media giant? How satisfied are you with this deal?

    We are highly satisfied and I think it was the right thing to do in this market. So maybe we are a little bit ahead of the curve from others because it is the way broadcast is going. It’s not something we invented with Facebook, major companies are getting strongly into sports and OTT is taking a lead role in various countries. The only thing we have done differently is that we are the first but we won’t be the only.

    A recent report was that football in India is at the third position in terms of viewership and revenue, after cricket and kabaddi respectively…

    No, that is not right. Audience wise, if you consider all the competitions, football is number two. If you see Indian statistics, Pro Kabaddi League has just a few thousand more viewers than ISL. However, if you consider everything like LaLiga, EPL, UEFA and all other leagues, football is clearly the second sport. In terms of revenue, if you take sponsorship, ticketing and broadcast deals from ISL to FIFA, you will once again find that football is the second sport in India.

    Are you planning any content and distribution deals in India to offer more content apart from matches?

    We are offering tens of hours of content to India, various shows and content that is already on Sony and now will be available to fans through Facebook.

    With the new broadcast model, with TV and digital both, has the viewer engagement changed?

    Maybe it has changed in the way they see it, but it is engagement at large. Indeed, our engagement with fans on social media is growing.

    Telecom industry in India has seen a great spike after the entry of Reliance Jio. Data consumption got a boost but till now the country is not well-equipped to watch the full tournaments on smartphones. Don’t you think it is a big risk if the digital platform does not reach to a sub licensing agreement with the broadcaster?

    It is a risk we are eager to take. Always when you are the first in anything, something that will be the trend, you are taking a risk. But, we are proud to do it.

    After the rights are sold, what is the role of La Liga with the broadcast or streaming platform?

    We have a really strong cooperative relationship with our broadcasters, anywhere in the world, not only here. It’s not just that they pay and they show the matches, there’s a lot of thing to do, activations, marketing opportunities and more to this that we work together with them. We are here to understand them and to help them to better promote their product because we also have it in our own interest. Our relationship is very close and intense; it was with Sony and now with Facebook.

  • UCWeb Football World Cup Trends Report: 100 million page views generated on UC Browser during FIFA World Cup: 1.5 lakh hours spent on video consumption; Cristiano Ronaldo Most Popular Player

    UCWeb Football World Cup Trends Report: 100 million page views generated on UC Browser during FIFA World Cup: 1.5 lakh hours spent on video consumption; Cristiano Ronaldo Most Popular Player

    MUMBAI: Consumption of football-related content touched 100 million on UC Browser, for the recently concluded FIFA World Cup 2018, according to a joint data trends report released by UCWeb and Paytm. With a dedicated team at UC Trends, a data service and trends index platform, UCWeb generates data trends & insight report to help partners with valuable insights on a regular basis. For this year’s edition of football world cup, UCWeb has joined hands with Paytm to capture the online buying consumption pattern in addition to content consumption behavior.

    1.5 lakh hours of accumulated video viewership on football

    IPL is still the most popular sports tournament leading with a popularity index of 420 million over FIFA World Cup which is at 320 million. Video remains one of the most popular formats of content consumption receiving a total of 1.5 lakh hours of cumulative video viewership, equivalent to a time span of 17 years. UC Platform witnessed maximum traction from the cities of Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Guwahati.

    France vs Argentina was the most watched match of the World Cup and England emerged as the most popular team of FIFA World Cup 2018, followed by Argentina and Russia. Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo remains the most popular player, with a popularity index of over 5.6 million. Lionel Messi, Neymar, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah were the other top-rated players. The top 3 most popular topics which highlight the world cup content consumption were, France Vs Croatia (Final Match) followed by Argentina VS France (Qualifier) and Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo. Sportzwiki emerged to be the most influential media in world cup coverage with an influence index of 1.7 lakh, followed by Today’s Trends and Cricket Fever. At the same time, Cricket fever, Punjab Kesari and Jagran respectively came out to be the top 3 consumed media.

    Commenting on the insights from the report, Damon Xi, General Manager – India & Indonesia, UCWeb, Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group said, “The 2018 World Cup in Russia has seen a record number of soccer fans tuning in on a variety of devices. This year’s World Cup has proven to be a record-breaking event with mobile internet driving consumption of digital football & sports content. We aim to empower our media partners and advertisers to leverage these insights and better locate their audience.”

    Large Participation from UC We-Media bloggers to provide original content

    UC We-Media has become the No. 1 content platform with a wide array of segments including entertainment, lifestyle and sports. During the World Cup, nearly 1000 influential writers participated in UC We-Media World Cup-themed writing competition, and a total of over 10,000 pieces of original content was generated by these bloggers throughout the World Cup. The top 3 bloggers, Pratibha Saraswat followed by Satish Mishra and Mikkhail Vaswani encountered more visibility with 200 thousand followers growth in one week which is ten times faster than usual.

    ‘Drinks and Beverage’ drives the biggest jump in sales over previous month for Paytm

    According to the Paytm consumption data during the World Cup, Drinks and Beverages were one of the most consumed product categories among football watchers, who spent time in front of TVs while consuming more beverages. Drink and Beverages category received the biggest rise in sales as compared to the previous month before the World Cup. For binge eating, most people preferred healthy snacking option this year with Almonds and Cashews topping the list of bestselling snacks. Also, other top categories included Body care, Dairy products, Home cleaning and Cooking Essentials. The city of Delhi bought maximum from Paytm during the World Cup.

    UC Browser has been a leading content platform for accessing sports content.  It has witnessed a jump of 50% unique visitors during the recently concluded IPL 2018 with over 2.5 lakh relevant articles to meet the increased demand for cricket fans. Innovation on engagement with sports users was also prominent with 30 million votes supporting “UC Miss Cricket” campaign which made a debut at New York Times Square.

  • Barcelona closer to LaLiga title, Ronaldo closer to Messi in Pichichi top scorers’ race

    Barcelona closer to LaLiga title, Ronaldo closer to Messi in Pichichi top scorers’ race

    MUMBAI: Lionel Messi’s 25th LaLiga goal of the season kept Barcelona on track for the 2017/18 LaLiga title, during a weekend which also saw Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo make up ground in the ‘pichichi’ top scorers’ race with a four goal ‘poker’.

    Messi’s strike in Barca’s 2-0 victory over Athletic Club on Sunday afternoon means the Argentine has now scored at least 25 goals in each of the last nine LaLiga seasons. Paco Alcacer was also on the scoresheet at the Camp Nou as the blaugrana side moved another step closer to a first ever entire LaLiga season unbeaten.

    Barca are now 11 points clear at the top of the table, after second placed Atletico Madrid lost 2-1 at Villarreal on Sunday afternoon. Atletico lead thanks to Antoine Griezmann’s first half penalty, but a late double from Turkey international Enes Unal turned the game around completely.

    Real Madrid remain third after a 6-3 win at home to Girona on Sunday evening, with Ronaldo scoring four times to move to 22 goals in LaLiga this term – 18 of which have come in his last nine outings. Madrid’s Lucas Vazquez and Gareth Bale also netted, while Girona kept battling back via Cristhian Stuani [two] and Juanpe headers at set-pieces.

    Valencia retain their hold on fourth spot after a 3-1 home win over Alaves at Mestalla, a fifth victory in six LaLiga games for Los Che, who had in form strike pair Simone Zaza and Rodrigo Moreno on the scoresheet.

    Leganes again showed LaLiga’s impressive strength in depth, beating Champions League quarter-finalists Sevilla 2-1 at Butarque at Sunday lunchtime. The visitors’ Mexico international Miguel Layun scored his first LaLiga goal late on.

    Real Betis are up to seventh in the LaLiga table after a 3-0 win at home to Espanyol on Saturday evening. Man of the match was Algeria international Ryad Boudebouz, who both scored and assisted in a LaLiga game for the first time.

    Getafe climbed into the top half with a 2-1 comeback victory at Real Sociedad on Saturday evening. La Real announced on Sunday that B team coach Imanol Alguacil was being promoted to replace Eusebio Sacristan as first team boss for the rest of the season.

    Paco Lopez became the first Levante coach to win both his first two LaLiga games in charge, with young Ghana striker Emmanuel Boateng hitting the winner in a 2-1 home victory over Eibar which gives his side a six point cushion over the bottom three.

    The weekend’s big battle at the bottom finished 1-1 at Riazor, with Las Palmas playmaker Alen Halilovic’s fine solo goal putting his side ahead on just three minutes, but Deportivo La Coruna defender Raul Albentosa equalising with a header before half time.

    Bottom team Malaga also gained a point with a 0-0 draw at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday afternoon. However the Andalusians now have a 12 point gap to safety, with just nine games remaining.

  • ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’ & ‘Sleeping Giant’ to be premiered on Discovery

    MUMBAI: Discovery is set to excite the audience in India by bringing the amazing stories of footballing legends to viewer’s screens across India. Cristiano Ronaldo – The world at his feet and Sleeping Giant – An Indian football story are the two movies Discovery will premiere under its recently launched ‘Movie Nights’ on Saturday, 29 April and 6 May 2017.

    These movies will encourage viewers to follow their dreams, and never give up. Cristiano Ronaldo-The world at his feet is based on the life of the current global Portuguese superstar who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Portugal national team. The documentary reveals how he spent his childhood practicing football for hours, skipping his meals and sometime school too. The movie further showcases how he honed his natural ability, through sheer determination and commitment to his craft and shaped his attitude to conquer his fears and realize the ultimate dream – to be the best footballer in the world.

    On the other hand, Sleeping Giant – An Indian football story is about the future of Indian football. The movie features the story of two ordinary children from Mumbai who followed their passion, persevered and earned a golden chance to play for famous football clubs in England.

    Cristiano Ronaldo-The world at his feet (29th April)- The movie will follow the life of star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo from his beginnings in Portugal, breakthrough start with Manchester United and current career at Real Madrid. The movie has been narrated by award winning actor Benedict Cumberbatch and also features other footballing legends David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi.

    Trailer link:

    Sleeping Giant –An Indian football story (6th May) – The movie revolves around the story of two children who were selected from 1700 contenders for once in a lifetime opportunity i.e. to be taken under the wing of a famous English Football club and be trained like pros. Shot over 2 and a half years, this documentary follows the young hopefuls from the back-streets of Mumbai to London as they embark on an incredible journey to realize their dreams and follow them. The movie has been made by the same team who made the documentary ‘The Four Year Plan’, who found out about this story whilst shooting behind the scenes at QPR.

    Trailer link: