With barely 44 days to go for kick-off of the inaugural Indian Super League ISL, team owners of the eight franchises gathered in a city hotel yesterday for the official launch of the event.


Extreme left: John Abraham co-owner NorthEast United FC, Sameer Manchanda co-owner Delhi Dynamos, Kapil Wadhawan not seen, co-owner FC Pune City, Sachin Tendulkar co-owner Kerala Blasters, Hero group Vice Chairman and Managing Director Pawan Munjal, Ranbir Kapoor co-owner Mumbai City FC, Abhishek Bachchan co-owner Chennai Titans, Nita Ambani Founding Chairperson Football Sports Development, Utsav Parikh co-owner Atletico de Kolkata, AIFF President Praful Patel and Varun Dhawan first friend of FC Goa at the oath taking ceremony of the ISL at a city hotel yesterday. The tournament kicks off on October 12. Pic/Suresh KK 

Each one of them exuded a great deal of optimism about the competition that is modelled largely around the hugely successful India Premier league IPL.