International Management Group Worldwide (IMG) and Reliance Industries Ltd.’s joint venture in India, ‘IMG-Reliance’, together with Star India Pvt. Ltd. today announced its plans to commence the bidding process for Indian Super League clubs through ‘Invitation To Bid’ tender starting Monday, March 3, 2014.

The ambitious Indian Super League – an unrivalled football championship to be staged from September to November 2014, will foster local talent and feature international stars with the aim of making the game one of the country’s flagship sport.

The Indian Super League, backed by the All India Football Federation, to which IMG-Reliance is the commercial partner, has been designed to entice an entire new generation of sports fans into the football grounds throughout the country and is expected to help expand the market for football outside the regular pockets in the county.

The ISL promises to revolutionize the sport, leveraging the strengths of all three partners who are focused on growing the game to national prominence and offer Indian football greater global exposure.

Bids will be invited through the ‘Invitation To Bid’ or ITB documents in respect of initial nine cities, namely Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Off these nine cities, winning bidders for the top eight cities will be granted the right to own and operate a new football club and participate in the Indian Super League.

The ITB and other bid related documents will be available on working days between 10am to 5pm from March 3 to March 21, 2014 (both days inclusive) at the IMG-Reliance office, Bandra (East), Mumbai.

All bidding parties need to satisfy the eligibility criteria and other requirements specified in the ITB. Interested parties need to submit the bidding documents at IMG-Reliance Mumbai office no later than 5pm on March 25, 2014.

Ernst & Young, the advisory firm, has been entrusted the responsibility of evaluating the bid documents, following which the winning participants will be announced by first week of April 2014.