Tata Steel bags Jamshedpur franchise of Indian Super League
Mumbai, June 12, 2017 /- Tata Steel has successfully bid for the Jamshedpur franchise in the upcoming season of the coveted Indian Super League (ISL). The steel giant, which has been a pioneer in the development of sports in India, won the bid with Jamshedpur as the host city and will be part of ISL from the next season.
Tata Steel will announce the names of members of the Jamshedpur team along with the squad and coaching staff in due course. The team logo and jersey will also be unveiled soon. ISL organisers, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), had invited bids for 10 cities in India, namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvananthapuram. Jamshedpur was awarded to Tata / Tata Steel and it will participate in ISL. The new team will be competing for the coveted title along with franchisees from Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Goa and Guwahati.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President Corporate Services, Tata Steel, said: “This is a momentous occasion for Tata Steel, which has always been a pioneer in the development of sports in the country, especially football. Our entry into the coveted Indian Super League reinforces our commitment to provide a fillip to the development of football in the country. We are extremely excited to have won the bid for our hometown Jamshedpur and will provide the best of facilities for football to prosper in the eastern part of our country”.
The Tata group has a long association with sports, especially football, with the efficacious Tata Football Academy (TFA) in Jamshedpur. TFA has been grooming exceptional players who have brought glory to the nation for the last 30 years. The new team will leverage the state-of-the-art infrastructure at TFA.
Established in Jamshedpur in 1987, the objective of TFA has been to nurture and train budding footballers in the most scientific way to improve the standard of Indian football by producing outstanding players for the Indian National Team. The academy has trained over 200 players, out of whom 135 have represented the country, with 19 of them having lead the national team as Captain across various age groups.
Commenting on the development, Mr Chuni Goswami, former Olympian and Captain of the Indian Football Team and the first Director of TFA, said: Tatas have always been promoters of sports and have contributed a great deal to the cause of sports, be it football, hockey, athletics, etc, at an all-India level. TFA is a first-of-its-kind institution that was set up to groom budding footballers so that they can evolve into good footballers in course of time. I have been very lucky to be associated with TFA since its inception. I am very happy to know that Tatas continue to promote sports in a big way. It is only natural that Tatas are getting associated with ISL”.
