Passion was always the hallmark of Sourav Ganguly’s game as India’s cricket captain. He promises to bring the same involvement and commitment to his new endeavour as co-owner of Atlético de Kolkata which will represent his beloved city in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) that kicks off next month. In this exclusive interview, ‘Dada’ talks about his plans and expectations for his new football club. Here are a few excerpts…Do you believe that despite all the money and glamour that is coming into football, eventually, it is those 90 minutes on the pitch that matter?That’s with every sport, whether it’s cricket, football or tennis. We saw the Wimbledon final where (Roger) Federer and (Novak) Djokovic played and it’s going to be the same for football. It’s what you do on the park that drives sports, any sport. And I’m sure it’s going to be the same with football. Hopefully, in the coming years, we can get bigger and better names to be a part of the ISL which would actually open the league up.You are co-owner of the Kolkata franchise and have tied up with a top-level club like Atlético de Madrid. Is this an added advantage?Yes, as a brand, maybe, as we are part of Kolkata where football is such a huge sport and we have tied up with Atlético de Madrid who have had such a wonderful year in Europe and Spain. So from that point it’s great, but until we get the Atlético de Madrid players to play for the club, I don’t think we are on a better pedestal in terms of football as compared to the other franchise clubs.Apart from the plan of getting 5-6 players from Atlético de Kolkata into the national side, what other plans do you have?Yes, we do have that plan. Also, we have the grassroots development programme where we are going to train players and hope to get some quality players playing in the football World Cup and the national team. Bengal naturally produces quite a few footballers, it’s been the football hub of Indian for quite some time though it now shares that distinction with Goa and Kerala. So hopefully, with the developments and the programmes, we can make a difference.How does the fact that Sourav Ganguly is associated with this team, help in the operations and promotions?I hope it does, and hopefully, the people of Kolkata will come to watch the games; but at the end of the day it is the quality of football that matters.Name one big benefit that the ISL will confer upon Indian football.It will improve the quality of football and for that the league will be opened up… Hopefully, allowing better players to play with players from our country will improve their game as playing with better quality players does that.You were very passionate as a cricket captain. As a club owner, will we see that same passion or more of a laid back approach?See, I’m not directly involved. As a captain I had to be on the field. Here, being a part of the ownership, I’ll have to be outside the field. That’s the big difference. There, I could actually make changes on the ground and I was hands on. Here, I’m semi-hands on, because I won’t actually be on the ground. But in terms of winning and losing, the passion will be the same, even in terms of getting the best team on the park or in pushing the team, it’s not going to change.Have you always been this involved and passionate about football?I’ve not been involved but I have been watching it and have been closely associated with it. I played football before I went on to play cricket so it's not an unknown territory for me.
