Indian Soccer League splashes $7m

HERNAN Crespo became the hottest property of a new Indian Soccer League starting next month when the Argentine fetched $840,000 in an auction of players and coaches yesterday. Crespo was snapped up by the Barasat franchise of Premier League Soccer (PLS), which is modelled on cricket’s highly successful Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament and scheduled from 25 Feb to 8 April in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

The idea of a players’ auction was borrowed from IPL, and Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro went to Siliguri for $830,000, while Robert Pires of France ($800,000), Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha ($550,000) and Liverpool great Robbie Fowler ($530,000) went to Howrah, Durgapur and Kolkata. Five franchises spent nearly $7 million, each buying an ‘icon’ player, two overseas footballers and a coach. Howrah will boast PLS’s most expensive coach after shelling out $240,000 for former Portugal central defender Fernando Couto, while former Manchester City and Sunderland manager Peter Reid (Kolkata) went for $200,000.