ISL:Sachin bags Kochi, Ganguly Kolkata

IMG-Reliance on Sunday announced winning bids for eight franchises of the much-anticipated Indian Super League football tournament, with cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly getting Kochi and Kolkata teams respectively.

Tendulkar bagged the Kochi franchise along with PVP Ventures, which also owns a team in the Indian Badminton League. Ganguly, who bid by forming a consortium with Spanish League giants Atletico Madrid and businessmen Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka and Utsav Parekh, won the Kolkata franchise.

Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh got the Mumbai franchise, while Salman Khan bagged the Pune franchise together with Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan of the Wadhawan Group. Another actor John Abraham teamed up with I-League side from the northeast, Shillong Lajong, to clinch the Guwahati franchise.

Delhi franchise went to Sameer Manchanda-led Den Network; Bangalore to Sun Group - the owners of Indian Premier League team, Hyderabad Surisers; and Goa to the consortium of Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon, Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas V Dempo.

Organised by IMG-Reliance in association with Star India, the league has the backing of All India Football Federation (AIFF), and is likely to see big names such as ex-Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke, former Argentina forward Hernan Crespo and England's Michael Owen.

The inaugural season of the league is scheduled to be held in September-November this year.

Here is a list of groups that have won bids for different franchises:

Kochi- Sachin Tendulkar & PVP Ventures; 

Kolkata- Sourav Ganguly, Atletico Madrid, Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka and Utsav Parekh; 

Guwahati- John Abraham & Shillong Lajong; 

Mumbai- Ranbir Kapoor & Bimal Parekh; 

Bangalore- Sun Group; 

Delhi- Sameer Manchanda; 

Pune- Salman Khan, Kapil & Dheeraj Wadhawan;

Goa- Videocon, Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas V. Dempo