Football
ESPN staff 9y

Indian Super League creates football headlines in cricket-mad country

The start of the Indian Super League (ISL) -- the nation's most ambitious football tournament ever -- created plenty of headlines across the country, but not before the beautiful game was given another polite reminder that cricket will always be king.

The ISL kicked off in front of nearly 70,000 spectators at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday, Oct. 12 to see Atletico de Kolkata play Mumbai City following a glamorous opening ceremony.

The country's leading English-language newspaper The Times of India called it the new order of Indian football.

"With its exciting freshness, well-packaged avatar and a never-seen-before razzmatazz, the mass entertainment of Bollywood and football, riding on Indian cricket's shoulder, descended on the illuminated Salt Lake Stadium to set the ball rolling for the Indian Super League," the newspaper wrote.

Another leading English language newspaper Hindustan Times reported that the opening ceremony of the tournament was an event to remember. However, the newspaper pointed out that the biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for legendary former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, the co-owner of Kerala Blasters FC which is one of the eight ISL franchises.

- Read:  Sachin Tendulkar helping to grow football through ISL

India's former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly -- who is from Kolkata and the co-owner of the city franchise Atletico -- also received loud cheers from his hometown crowd.

The leading English language newspaper in India's south The Hindu called the tournament "a step into a brave new world." On the inaugural match the newspaper commented: "Pitted against the country's regular inter-club engagement -- I-League -- the ISL lung-opener provided relief from the usual odium related to domestic football."

The online edition of one of India's leading English language television news channels, NDTV, mentioned that former Arsenal star and FC Goa marquee signing Robert Pires was encouraged by the Indian fans who turned up at the inaugural game.

With the Indian cricket team having played their One-Day International against the West Indies a day earlier, the ISL opening ceremony and first game enjoyed uncontested headline space in the sports pages of most major publications.

Atletico defeated Peter Reid's visitors 3-0, with Ethiopian striker Fikru Teferra Lemessa opening the scoring in the 27th minute. The Spanish duo of midfielder Borja Fernández and striker Arnal Llibert added second-half goals.

Former Arsenal stars Fredrik Ljungberg and Nicolas Anelka -- Mumbai City FC's big-ticket signings -- missed the game owing to injury and suspension, respectively. However, the other big name involved in the contest -- former Liverpool star Luis Garcia -- was at his creative best in the Atletico de Kolkata midfield much to the delight of the Bengal crowd.

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