Tag: Sunil Chhetri

UltraTech Cement associates with Mumbai City FC as its strength partner

MUMBAI: UltraTech Cement announces its association with Mumbai City FC, Mumbai’s franchise in the Indian Super League, as its Strength Partner. It aims to extend its support towards building the beautiful game in India with this tie-up.

Football is fast gaining popularity in the country, and the success of the first edition of the Indian Super League is a testimony to it. Indian Super League achieved the rare milestone of having registered the highest average stadium attendance for any football league in Asia, and the fourth highest in the world in its first edition.

Indian National team captain, Sunil Chhetri and Goalkeeper, Subrata Paul among others are the core players of Mumbai City FC. Nicolas Anelka, the marquee player-manager for Mumbai City FC, is a globally renowned footballer having plied his trade with top clubs in Europe including Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal, among others. Bollywood actor and football enthusiast Ranbir Kapoor is the co-owner of the team.

The team’s logo is a reflection of a resilient fortress that depicts the strong and determined spirit of the city. It also depicts a train that is the lifeline of the city. The seven stars symbolize the seven islands that form Mumbai.

“UltraTech has always been strongly connected with sports in India; be it cricket and now football. UltraTech, as a brand, signifies strength and beauty, which is what football as a sport stands for. Mumbai City FC has a strong mix of top national and international players and has a promising season ahead. Our association with Mumbai City FC is a step towards connecting with the youth of India through football, while also leveraging the rising popularity of the game as a brand,” said UltraTech Cement managing director O P Puranmalka.

Commenting on this association with UltraTech Cement , Mumbai City FC team owner Ranbir Kapoor, said, “UltraTech Cement have been associated with sports teams in India for awhile now and it gives us a major confidence boost that they have ventured into football in India with Mumbai City FC. I am very glad to welcome them on board as our strength partner for this season.”

October 7, 2015
ISL Auction: Ranbir Kapoor’s Mumbai City FC snaps up Sunil Chhetri for Rs 1.2 crore

MUMBAI: The first auction of Indian footballers’ new dream tournament IMG-Reliance and Star India funded Indian Super league (ISL) kickstarted in Mumbai with national football sensation Sunil Chhetri going under the hammer for a whopping Rs 1.20 crore. Having a base price of Rs 80 lakh, Chhetri was picked up by Ranbir Kapoor’s Mumbai City FC.

Kapoor said, “I am excited to have Sunil in our team and we are looking forward to the next season with him in the team. Sunil and Anelka up in front will certainly be a worthy experience.”

Veteran football commentator John Dykes started the auction proceedings along with auction specialist Charlie Ross.

The first player to go down the hammer was the winner of the I-League Player of the Season Jackichand Singh. His base price was Rs 20 lakh and after much tussling and strategising, Pune FC grabbed his services for Rs 45 lakh. Hrithik Roshan sported a big smile after securing Singh’s services. Mumbai co-owner Kapoor and North East United co-owner John Abraham were also aggressively bidding for Singh.

With a base price of Rs 39 lakh, Thoi Singh managed to raise many eyebrows when Chennai FC clinched him for Rs 86 lakh.

Alongside Chhetri who breached the Rs 1 crore mark, Eugeneson Lyngdoh became the first player in the auction to touch the coveted price point. After several rounds of aggressive bidding, which started from the base price of Rs 27.5 lakh, Roshan had the last laugh as Pune City FC secured the midfielder’s services by investing a sum of Rs 1.05 crore. As many as five clubs were vying for Lyngdoh.

On the other hand, Rino Anto was the show stopper of Pool B of the ISL auction. The one-of-a-kind Indian national Left Back went under the hammer with a base price of Rs 17.5 lakh. However this amount was too little when compared to his class and franchise owners recognised it early on. Defending champions Athletico de Kolkata bagged his services after several rounds of counter bidding against various franchises. Anto’s selling price went up to Rs 90 lakh, which was way over his base price.

Pool B also had nation number 9 Robin Singh. The goal scorer was expected to grab the attention of many a teams but it turned out to be a very cold bidding while he was under the hammer. Delhi Dynamos secured his service paying Rs 51 lakh, a tad higher than his base price of Rs 40 lakh.

A total of Rs 7.22 crore was spent in the first edition of the ISL player auction for garnering the services of top 10 Indian players.

The auction began with an encouraging speech from ISL founder and chairperson Nita Ambani.

Ambani said, “Half a million young minds participated in the Reliance Foundation young minds grassroots program out of which the best 23 were selected and now they are privileged with top class facilities in Mumbai, getting top class coaching from top football coaches. We are committed to make the second season bigger and better. We will try our level best to make India a truly footballing nation. Come on India, let’s football.”

July 10, 2015
Star Sports to telecast ISL Draft and Auction live

MUMBAI: Star India’s sports broadcaster Star Sports, will telecast the first ever auction of football players in India live and exclusive on Friday, 10 July, 2015 from Mumbai. The Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2015 domestic player auction and draft will witness the top football talent in the country going under the hammer, with the eight teams bidding aggressively to add the finest Indian football talent to their roster.

The auction will go live at 10 am on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2 and will be anchored by renowned broadcaster and football expert John Dykes. Charlie Ross, resident auctioneer of Gooding and Company, the American vintage automobile auctioneers and for Mac Dougalls, the Russian Fine Art Auction House, will head the auction proceedings for the day.

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The auction will be followed by a domestic draft with 114 players available for selection in the second season of the Hero Indian Super League.

The auction and draft day telecast will begin with a special in-depth analysis on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD 2 on what to expect at the auction and draft. Star Sports presenter Seema Jaswal along with former footballers and experts Paul Masefield and Bengaluru FC coach Ashley Westwood will be a part of the pre-auction show. A special one hour wrap up show featuring all the action from the day long auction will broadcast between 10:30 pm – 11:30 pm on Star Sports 4 & Star Sports HD4.

Each club is regulated to have a minimum squad of 22 players and maximum of 25, consisting of one marquee, eight international and 13 domestic players including two mandatory under-23 developmental players.

July 8, 2015
First ever ISL player auction to be held on 10 July

MUMBAI: Player auction for the second season of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) will be held on 10 July, 2015. Hero ISL franchisees will put their boardroom strategy into practice while bidding for the best Indian talents for season 2015.

Ten of India’s finest footballing talents, which includes Sunil Chhetri will feature in the first Hero Indian Super League ‘Player Auction’.

The player auction list is as follows: Sunil Chhetri, Jackichand Singh, Seityasen Singh, Karanjeet Singh, Thoi Singh, Robin Singh, Rino Anto, Anas Edathodika, Arata Izumi and Eugeneson Lyngdoh.

All ten players in the auction list had missed on the inaugural season of Hero ISL last year owning to their individual contracts with respective I-League clubs. However they showed keen interest to be a part of the unrivalled football league for the 2015 season. The success of the inaugural season of the Hero ISL has brought back world’s interest into Indian football. Hero ISL’s 11-week format featuring eight city-based franchisees, international footballing stars, renowned coaches, Indian talents, competitiveness and celebrity owners has helped reignite Indian football not just within the country but also internationally.

Six of the ten players in the auction list i.e. Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Thoi Singh, Arata Izumi, Anas Edathodika and Karanjeet Singh, have signed with Football Sports Development Limited – the promoters of Hero ISL, as free agents. Jackichand Singh and Seityasen Singh have been loaned from I-League club Royal Wahingdoh FC while Rino Anto and Eugeneson Lyngdoh are loaned from Bengaluru FC.

The four times AIFF Player of the Year Chhetri commands the highest base price in the Hero ISL Player Auction at Rs 80 lakh, followed by goalkeeper Karanjeet Singh at Rs 60 lakh. Robin Singh, Arata Izumi and Anas Edathodika have been pegged at Rs 40 lakh base price, while Thoi Singh is just a notch below at Rs 39 lakh. Eugeneson Lyngdoh will be at Rs 27.50 lakh base price and the Royal Wahingdoh loaned duo Jackichand Singh and Seityasen Singh will be at Rs 20 lakh each. Rino Anto commands the lowest base price in the auction list at Rs 17.50 lakh.

Additionally, Football Sports Development Limited also announced an extensive list of 113 Indian players for Hero ISL 2015 Draft. The eight ISL franchisees as of date have 64 Indian players on their roster either retained from last year or signed from the open market. The comprehensive Draft list will help ISL franchisees to fill up a total of 40 positions of the Indian player quota. The Draft will be held on the same day as the Player Auction on 10 July 2015.

June 11, 2015
I -League set to return on 17 January 2015

MUMBAI: The launch of Indian Super League (ISL), made many doubt if the country’s original football league would be able to sustain or not. However, putting fears to rest about the future sustainability of the I–League, it is all set to take off from 17 January 2015 in Bengaluru and will be telecast on Ten Sports.

The official broadcaster, which will air 75 out of the total 110 matches live on the channel, is optimistic about it. Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi says, “We have had a long-standing partnership with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the I-League. We have seen this property grow leaps and bounds on our network in terms of audience interest and viewership numbers.”

He goes on to say that the network values the primary national league on its platform and is looking forward to an exciting new season of the tournament from January 2015 as well as the Federation Cup, which will commence from December 2014.

While some sports experts feel that the ongoing Hero Indian Super League (ISL) would cause sustainability problems for the league, the announcement comes as a welcome move. Sports columnist Hemant Kenkre says, “The I-League was introduced in India as a professional football league. While India may have a low ranking in terms of world football standings, foreign leagues like the EPL are popular in the country. The I-League together with the Indian Super League can co-exist together, as a large number of football leagues will provide not just an opportunity for youngsters to play but also give international exposure for the game.”

The decision on the dates for the league, were taken at the recent I-League and Federation Cup committee meeting. It was also decided that the inaugural edition of the AIFF U-15 tournament for I-league clubs will be held in the next calendar year and will consist of 16 teams wherein besides the 10 league clubs, four other academies and two AIFF academies will be a part of the final round.

“With the new clubs in the league giving more importance to infrastructure and grassroots development programmes, and with AIFF’s initiatives for new tournaments in the junior categories, it is definitely going to impact the quality of youngsters in the game in India and I am confident that these initiatives will bear fruit in the Indian teams performances and results in the U-17 World Cup,” adds Sethi.

While coming up with the fixture of the championship, the schedule of school examinations will be kept in mind, and only post discussions with sponsors like Coca Cola and AIFF marketing partners IMG-Reliance, will intimate the clubs. It has also been decided that the registration of players would be done centrally through the state associations and all ID cards would be issued by AIFF. No club would be allowed to register a player after the completion of the 11th round of I-League.

As per the release of players for the AFC U-22 Qualifiers, slated to be held from 23 to 31 March 2015, the clubs have agreed to get back to the governing body over the same. Meanwhile, the second division league would take place in two venues which are to be finalised post inspection by AIFF. The eight participating Clubs are Aizawl FC, Chanmari FC, United Sports Club, Mohammedan Sporting, PIFA Sports, Kenkre Sports, Hindustan FC and Lonestar Kashmir FC. The U-19 I-League will kick-off in the second week of December.

The last season of the championship was won by the newcomer Bangalore FC, which was led by India’s national football team captain, Sunil Chhetri. When asked for his expectations for the upcoming league he says, “Expectations remain same in the I-League; we want to defend our title. We want to make it as difficult as possible for the competition. We also have an AFC competition and the Federation Cup so we have our work cut out.”

“The players obviously want to put up performances that the audiences can enjoy,” he concludes.

November 27, 2014
Reliance Media Works helps amplify 2014 FIFA World Cup fever

MUMBAI: As the excitement in the air builds, fans all across the world gear up for the biggest football tournament. From social networking sites, advertisement commercials to sports bars the 2014 FIFA World Cup fever is everywhere. And this year for the first time Reliance MediaWorks is proud to be associated with Sony SIX for this mega event. The company has partnered with the official broadcasters – Multi Screen Media who are using the state of the art sound stages at Film City to shoot Café Rio, a prime time football wrap around show that is being aired on Sony SIX.

Café Rio is a prime time show where experts from the football field and some football legends come together to offer in-depth analysis of player forms, group standings, strategies and the matches being played. With a combination of sports and entertainment this show promises to captivate both the football purists and enthusiastic viewers. The line-up is promising including Peter Crouch, Robbie Fowler, Peter Shilton, Mikael Silvestre, Ellyse Perry, Sunil Chhetri and John Abraham.

For this one month long program, keeping in mind the stringent requirements that involved several elements including live stadium action and studio programming on a daily basis, the entire consolidation was done at the Reliance MediaWorks studio facilities so that the seamlessly integrated programme is available to delight millions of football fans on a daily basis.

Availability of the best in class infrastructure, onsite technical support, high standards of quality & security; all within the reach at a convenient location like Filmcity was the key reason that made this the preferred choice.

Known for their Hollywood benchmarked infrastructure, Reliance MediaWorks currently offer four sound stages for all production requirements for broadcast, film, TVCs & events. The new set of four stages which also have the same technical specifications, will be operational by September 2014.

MSM executive vice president and business head Prasana Krishnan said, “2014 FIFA World Cup is without a doubt the most anticipated event of the year. In order to deliver the very best to our viewers, we had to ensure that everything that goes into the creation of the content is of the very finest quality. Thereby, our preferred choice of high technology studio facility was Reliance MediaWorks.”

Reliance MediaWorks chief executive officer Venkatesh Roddam, added, “After our repeated successful collaboration for Pepsi IPL Extraaa Innings, we are partnering with Multi-Screen Media yet again for Café Rio this time. They constantly offer path breaking programming concepts to the discerning viewers and we at Reliance MediaWorks are happy and proud to be associated in this first of its kind programming initiatives for football in India.”

July 3, 2014
Get, set, goal…

MUMBAI: A mysterious calm surrounds the sets of Café Rio and Football Extraaa, the two shows on Sony Six especially created for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The atmosphere is calm and dark, but then as a few spot boys enter, the eeriness begins to drift.

As lights are lit, the crimson yellow, flame orange and sky blue colors of Brasil bring the set to life.

Café Rio, a live primetime show at 8 pm leading up to the match kick-offs, entails interesting facts about victorious teams, historical venues and stalwart players along with in-depth analysis and discussion about squads, player forms, group standings and strategies.

The adjacent set belongs to the live breakfast show Football Extraa, which is aired between 8 am to 9 am, relives the excitement and fun of the previous day matches.

The two sets are designed with hand painted cutouts and buntings along with touch screen graphic screens. The innovatively created Café Rio set could have been created anywhere between the price range of 8 to 10 lakhs while the small scale Football Extraa set would be within the range of 5 to 6 lakhs.

As several hands begin to spruce up the set, in walks the dapper Indian football team captain and panelist Sunil Chhetri who finds the set as an invigorating mix of colour and energy which helps him identify with the action in Brasil. Soon follows the make-up man to give him the right touchup over his clean shaven face.

When questioned about the most surprising moment for him this World Cup, he raises his brow and matter-of-factly states, “It was definitely Chile beating Spain. Netherlands as a team too have done their homework.”

He adds, “Thanks to Sony Six I am having a gala time. It’s been a combination of work and pleasure for me. I do my research well in advance and try to bring my knowledge to the table.”

The shows need a tremendous amount of research and insight. The research team comprises of two people who are the ‘Wikipedia’ of football and act as statisticians too. The blueprint of the show is prepared in the morning while the information is computed three and a half hours before the show begins.

A total of 120 people complete the production and post-production teams led by three senior producers and a senior executive producer which also includes camera persons and spot boys.

The production and research teams work on the graphics together on the analysis software provided by wTVision. A total of five high definition (HD) cameras and a jib capture the various set angles.

The anchor and the studio guests, who arrive just two hours earlier, are briefed about the day’s happenings. Their inputs too are taken into consideration, especially the narration style.

Amidst the chaos, noiselessly walks in British sports presenter, Joe Morrison, who gobbles down two to three bananas hiding from other’s eyes.

As we settle down to interview him, the slender presenter goes down memory lane and says that though the 1982 WC holds close to his heart, he isn’t complaining about the current one as well.

When quizzed about the football scene in India, he quickly replies: “It has been steady. Pessimists say there is no talent. I think this thought is Bu**Sh**! Over the last eight to nine years, the appetite for football has grown in India. There is no shortage of talent here. The fundamental problem is that no one is searching for the right talent.”

When asked which is the team he is supporting ardently? A crafty grin says it all. “England and it will always be England. But I do have a soft spot for Brasil,” he confesses.

The set goes hush as it’s time to shoot before the big game. As the two guests, Robbie Fowler and Sunil Chhetri along with host Joe Morrison take their seats; loud voices turn into whispers as the floor manager commands everyone to put their mobile phones on silent mode. Everyone obeys.

The final countdown to the show, produced at Reliance MediaWorks located in the heart of Filmcity, begins.

As the producers’ voice nears 3,2,1… Morrison’s crystal clear voice rings in the air… “Someone is going home, tonight!”

June 25, 2014