The Indian Super League made another big acquisition on Tuesday. It is not another star footballer, but Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli, who signed up as co-owner of FC Goa.
"I love to play football; it is my second-most favourite sport after cricket.
"When the ISL came up I thought about it. Some might think I am pretty young to do something like this. It is a step being taken too early, but nothing is ever too early.
"If you believe in something, you have to put your 100 percent commitment towards it. I decided to do it because I want football to grow in India,” said Kohli in Mumbai, as FC Goa unveiled former France international and Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires as their marquee player for the inaugural season of the league, to be played between October 13 and December 20.
The Goan ISL franchise, which is also owned by two of Goa’s oldest football clubs -- Salgaocar and Dempo, will be coached by Brazil legend Zico.
Zico, whose full name is Arthur Antunes Comibra, is regarded as one of the greatest footballers ever, next only to Pele. He played for Brazil in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups and scored 52 goals in 72 matches.
He coached Japan during the 2002 World Cup and also had spells with Turkish club Fenerbahce and Russia’s CSKA Moscow among others.
Zico believes that despite the popularity of cricket in India, football also has a future, as was the case in Japan.
"I will use all that experience from Japan for the benefit of FC Goa. There are many similarities. In Japan, baseball was number one, like in India cricket is number one. There is space for each and every sport in every part of the world.
"Japan is a very big country and India is also a very big country. There can be many people playing cricket and there also be many people playing football. In Japan, football has grown, but it didn’t mean that baseball has gone down; both the sports have grown," he reasoned.
Kohli believes that having an experienced coach like Zico will prove beneficial for Indian footballers in the long run.
"I think it makes a big difference for the Indian players to be coached by someone like Zico. The kind of experience, the skill level he has seen from the players he has worked with... I think if he can get that to FC Goa Indian players will benefit big time from it.
"At the end of the day that is what you need as a sportsperson... to feed off from someone else’s experience and learn as much as you can. Someone as experienced as Zico will be great for FC Goa," he said.
Kohli also gave the thumbs up to the ISL, saying it could prove to be a blessing in disguise for the country's younger players. He cited the example of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament which has unearthed a lot of young players and made them big stars overnight.
"A lot of people opposed the IPL, but playing in it gives confidence to the younger players. Playing along with the best in the world they have the confidence to go out there and perform at that level.
"I think this is what the ISL is going to do. When you get a chance to play with the legends of the game you feed off their talent, you feed off their experience, you learn as much as you can from them; your confidence level goes up and, at the end of the day in sport, if you have confidence you can probably achieve anything.
"I think the ISL is going help Indian football immensely and because of this league you will see the level of Indian football going higher and the interest in the sport growing. It will certainly improve the infrastructure in the country. So the ISL is a great step towards making football a major sport in the country," he said.
The 25-year-old batsman also looks at the ISL as a great business opportunity and an option to keep himself going after retiring from cricket.
"I decided to come on board because in Goa there is more keenness for football, plus there is excitement that I can train with the best athletes as well. It is also a business venture I am looking at in future.
"Cricket is not going to last forever; so when I am done, when I retire, I have to keep all my options open.
"It is something that excited me a lot and I decided to go ahead with it," he said.
The ISL will be contested between eight teams from across India and played on a league basis (home and away). The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals and winners of the double leg semis will qualify for the final.
