They came, they saw, and they tried to speak -- to their chauffeurs at the airport -- and realised that it’s a whole new ball game! Then, at the team meeting, they found players of different origins and different cultures mingling in. Such has been the story of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) so far as every franchise has got its fair share of mixed talents.With eight days to go before FC Pune City kicks off in the Hero ISL against Delhi Dynamos FC, we did a round up with our boys. The idea? To find out the eight distinct languages the players/staff can speak!1. Italian: Surprise, surprise! With coach Franco Colomba and his staff and the defence in the hands of Bruno Cirillo, Daniele Magliochetti and Emanuele Belardi, the Fiorentina approach is clear in the strategy and conversation.2. French: Marquee player, marquee language. David Trezeguet is the French guile to complement the hardy Italians in the defence. No wonder, more diversity in language then!3. Spanish: The two Colombians in the team are most fluent in Spanish. While Andres Ramirez can communicate in English, Omar Rodriguez can barely pronounce two words of English. Consequently, you will always find them sitting next to each other on the bus in a tour around the city!4. Swedish: The dash of variety continues with our head physiotherapist Lena Fallqvist chipping in with Swedish! Lena is also fondly referred to as “mummy” by the entire team!5. Greek: Our recent signing of Kostas Katsouranis has not only brought variety to the midfield, but also in the dinner table conversations. The Greece captain at the 2014 FIFA World Cup is all set to fire up the campaign for FC Pune City.6. Korean: The first Asian addition to the list is Park-Kwang IL. Park has lost no time in making friends with all the players despite the differences in culture and language.7. African/ English: Not just Asia and Europe, Saidou Mady from Burkina Faso and Dudu Omagbemi from Nigeria bring their swagger to the dressing room. Watch out for new words in African English flying about!8. Football- There are many more languages to report, but it is fair to end this article on the one language that they can fluently read, speak and think in -- Football.Lastly, here’s one for you. In how many languages can you chant for FC Pune City? Tell us in comments.
