East Bengal and UK-based Financial Company Pick Up Bids to Play in Indian Super League

East Bengal, with their new investors Shree Cements, have picked up the Indian Super League bid document, along with a UK-based financial company

Surprisingly RoundGlass, who own I-League side Punjab FC, did not pick up the bid document for the lone spot from the 2020-21 season of the Indian Super League.

ISL organisers, Football Sports Development Ltd (FSDL), had invited bids from six cities - Delhi, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Siliguri and Bhopal.

According to a report in TOI, East Bengal and the UK-based financial company have paid the necessary fee of Rs 5 lakh and downloaded the invitation to bid (ITB) document, which was available online on Monday and Tuesday.

"The UK based company is certainly looking at investment opportunities in Indian football, probably by putting that money in an existing club or forming an entirely new club themselves. They have picked up the papers to understand what it takes to secure a place in ISL, India's top-tier league" TOI quoted a sources close to the developments.

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East Bengal is expected to email the documents well before the deadline of September 14, while the UK based company, who are still looking for opportunities to partner with an existing club or forming an entirely new club themselves, will have to race against the clock to finalise their bid from the six identified cities.

Now the bids from both parties will have to be submitted by September 14 by e-mail and a hard copy of their bid will need to reach the FSDL's Mumbai office by September 17.

"Given that the international firm has picked up the bid papers, for sure they will now get into a conversation with organisers to find out viable options. They were definitely keeping an eye on Indian football and picked up the bid document at the first given opportunity" the source told TOI.

The new ISL team is expected to be decided upon in less than a week after documents are submitted to FSDL.