B-Town promotes football in cricket-crazy Indi

B-Town promotes football in cricket-crazy India

Here's how actors like SHILPA SHETTY,RANBIR KAPOOR and SALMAN KHAN are bringing soccer to the forefront in thecountry — from wanting to start a tournament in India topromoting the national team through endorsements

Soumyadipta Banerjee

The Bollywood brigade is pooling in their money and resources to promote football in India. All these celebs have one dream — India participating at the FIFA World Cup one day. Leading from the front is actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra, who have spent a part of their fortune to pursue their dream of starting a football tourney in India. "It's our dream (of starting a premiere football tournament in India). We, like many Indians, are passionate about football. Raj (Kundra) and I will eventually bring a football league to India. I just need the support of AIFF (All India Football Federation, the apex body for football in India). The local infrastructure (of domestic football) needs to be privatised and more money needs to be spent on it," says Shilpa. Shilpa and Raj have already started scouting for support from their friends and the response has been very positive. "We have eight corporates supporting us (for the football league). So, you can expect to see football done professionally in India soon. It is just a matter of time. Football is Raj's first love. He is British born and brought up in the UK (where most young men are passionate about the game). I guess that explains it all," she added, explaining why she is so passionate about organising the tournament. Another star who is lending his brand value to the game of soccer is Ranbir Kapoor. Sources confirmed that Ranbir will be promoting the Indian national football team. "Ranbir is an avid football player himself and has grown up playing football. An electronics company has approached Ranbir to do an advertisement for football and he has readily agreed to it. Ranbir is interested to do as many advertisements as possible to promote the Indian team," says a source. A senior official from AIFF also confirmed about Ranbir's involvement with the endorsement. Last but not the least is Salman Khan who has given his consent to continue as the brand ambassador for the AIFF. "Salman will be the mascot for football in India on behalf of AIFF. He will visit football camps, will appear at football tournaments and will be promoting the game to the younger generation of the country. He won't take a penny for doing all this," says a close aide of the star. s_banerjee@dnaindia.net