Former Brazilian international Ronaldinho and Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs will flag off the inaugural edition of Premier Futsal in India at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on the 15th of July.
There six franchises involved in the league each of which has a marquee player and Ryan Giggs, Ronaldinho- the smiling assassin and Argentine forward Hernan Crespo, Paul Scholes and Real Madrid star Michel Salgado are five of them.
With Portuguese star Deco withdrawing due to an injury, the playmaker in international futsal, Falcao is the sixth marquee player of the league.
In the first season, there will be two groups with 3 teams each who will battle against each other on eight match days in 13 games to seek a place in the finals to be played in Goa on the 24th of July.
The team owners of the six franchises were also announced on Tuesday. The Mumbai team has been bought by renowned car designer Dilip Chhabria, Goa by Viiking Ventures Pvt. Ltd and the Kochi one by Dubai-based Yes Events Management. Bengaluru 5 has Kannada superstar and actor Puneeth Rajkumar as it’s owner, the Kolkata one going to Bengali star Jeet and the last one is to be owned by Hindu group’s Janani Ramesh.
Speaking at the event, Premier Futsal Co-Founder Nithyashree Subban said, “Amidst all the false allegations and attempts to tarnish the image of Premier Futsal, we are proud to kick-start our inaugural edition as scheduled on July 15 here in Chennai.
“It was a strategic decision to host the league in just 2 cities; Chennai and Goa, and with 6 franchises. We have managed to secure signatures of players who are the legends of the game and will be seen playing in India in a few days. As Premier Futsal Management, we are committed to grow Futsal here in India and we will expand the league to other cities in the future editions.”
The teams for each city franchise were also announced at the event. In order to ensure that each side well balanced and competitive, the players have been handpicked by an independent committee comprising of International Futsal experts.