
The new Indian League franchise got their squads ready during the week, with a fantasy league type auction.
The six week run tournament, seen each team bid for an “Icon” player and a foreign coach set up in the same style as the Indian one day cricket format currently used to great effect.
Five franchises together spent £4.5 million each buying an “icon” player, two oversea’s players and a coach.
The five “icon” players were former Chelsea striker Hernan Crespo who went for £536,000 to Barasat who also payed £135,000 on Iceland’s Teitur Thordson as their foreign coach.
Next to go was former Italian World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro who went to Siliguri for £530,000 who also spent £128,000 on former Bolivian striker Marco Etcheverry as their foreign coach.
Robert Pires went to Howrah for £511,000 and will link up with Portugal’s former captain Fernando Couto £135,000.
Durgapur spent £351,000 on Jay-Jay Okocha who will link up with Samson Siasia of Nigeria who wentr for the sum of £118,000.
The fifth and final team Kolkata went for an English connection paying £338,000 on former Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler who will probably get another bookout of, and he’ll be coached by former Everton hard-man Peter Reid who cost £118,000 as Kolkata’s foreign coach.
It will be interesting to see how this novelty idea takes off, however I could imagine this type of auction working on any other European League.




