MUMBAI: As the hype and hoopla surrounding its launch fizzled out, the Premier League Soccer that was expected to take Indian football by storm has got some reality check as the tournament has been postponed for the second time in a row.

The non-cooperation of the West Bengal government and the under-preparedness of the venues have emerged as the prime reasons for the postponement.

PLS was originally expected to kick-off on 24 March but was postponed to 20 April due to unavailability of stadias. But as the problem persists, it seems the PLS will have to wait till at least August after the Fifa transfer window ends to stage the tournament.

When contacted, Celebrity Management Group CEO Dharamdutt Pandey said: ?PLS will be held only after August when the Fifa transfer window ends. By that time all the six stadiums would also have been refurbished. We will sit and finalise a new date with the IFA (Indian Football Association).?

What about the likely impact of the postponement on international players who would have second thoughts about participating in the league?

Pandey affirmed that CMG has officially written to all the players. "They have been kept in the loop about the developments and as of now none of the players have pulled out. In case, any of the iconic players pull-out the organisers will have a replacement ready," he said.

He also claimed that most of the franchises have supported CMG despite the issues that cloud the league. He went on to say that the franchises are happy since they will have more time to prepare themselves for the inaugural edition of the league.

Without naming, he said that one of the franchises is not happy with the uncertainty. He refused to reveal the identity of the franchise. He also revealed that all the six venues will be upgraded with the dressing room, turf and the floodlights being the top-most priority.

Earlier, the PLS had faced its first major roadblock when All India Football Federation had asked Fifa to suspend the Transfer Matching System account of the franchises over the ambiguity in the registration of franchises.

The issue was later sorted out after the IFA assured the parent body that the PLS clubs were recognised by it following which the clubs were allowed to seek transfer of international players through TMS.

The PLS will involve six teams -- Kolkata Camelians, Barasat Euro Musketeers, Durgapur Vox Champions, Howrah Manchester, Bengal Tuskers and Team Haldia, whose name is yet to be finalised. The six franchises had collectively put more than Rs 1 billion in buying the teams and signing players.

The league boasted of star players like Hernan Crespo, Jay Jay Okocha, Robert Pires and Fabio Cannavaro besides a host of other international players and coaches. The international media rights for the league were sold to MP & Silva.

MUMBAI: The inaugural edition of Premier League Soccer that was expected to kick-start from 24 March has been deferred at least by a month by Indian Football Association (West Bengal), the organisers of the tournament.

While the postponement is being attributed to difficulty in getting stadiums from the state government, the real reason is believed to be the not-so-good condition of stadias, which need to be refurbished and the fact that organisers will get more time to plan the league and create more buzz about the tournament.

However, a source in the Celebrity Management Group, the commercial rights holder of PLS, was confident that the IFA will successfully resolve all outstanding issues with state sports department, which is asking the state association to cough up money for using stadias, a demand that has been resisted by IFA.

The source also revealed that the global tender for broadcast rights will be initiated next week after working out modalities with its media rights holder, MP&Silva.

?Any new initiative which is new and unique is bound to have problems so that shouldn?t be made much of an issue, but we are confident that the league will be successful,? the source said on condition of anonymity.

The PLS will involve six teams -- Kolkata Camelians, Barasat Euro Musketeers, Durgapur Vox Champions, Howrah Manchester, Bengal Tuskers and Team Haldia, whose name is yet to be finalised.

Earlier, the PLS had faced its first major roadblock when the Indian football federation had asked the FIFA to suspend the Transfer Matching System account of the franchises over the ambiguity in the registration of franchises.

The issue was later sorted out after the IFA assured the parent body that the PLS clubs were recognised by it following which the clubs were allowed to seek transfer of international players through TMS.

The PLS was scheduled to take place from 24 March till 6 May while the new dates are expected to be announced by the organisers in the next few days.

MUMBAI: The ambitious Premier League Soccer may come a cropper as the AIFF, football?s governing body in India, has asked Fifa to temporarily suspend the six PLS clubs from using the Transfer Matching System (TMS) following the organisers inability to provide documents relating to affiliation of the clubs.

The suspension from TMS means that the PLS would not be able to seek the transfer of PLS? iconic players like Fabio Cannavaro, Hernan Crespo and Jay Jay Okocha as Fifa rule stipulates clubs to recruit international professional players only through the TMS, an online system used by all its members.

The AIFF had withdrew passwords earlier provided to the six PLS clubs following the affiliation controversy.

In order to gain AIFF?s recognition, the PLS clubs have to be affiliated to the IFA, which is the governing body of football in West bengal.

For IFA, under whose affiliation the league has been launched along with its commercial partner Celebrity Management Group, time is running out as the organisers have to provide the necessary documents to the AIFF before 15 February, which is also the international transfer deadline.

If the organisers fail to provide relevant documents by today, the AIFF would withdraw permission to the tournament. The AIFF has called for a meeting of its Emergency Committee, where a final decision on the PLS would be taken.

"We have told the IFA to provide the documents in time but time is running out. For the tournament to be held, FIFA will have to give clearance of the foreign players by February 15. We have not received from IFA the necessary documents of the six clubs till now. "If AIFF does not get the documents by Monday (Feb 13) when the Emergency Committee meets, the permission given to IFA to hold the tournament will be withdrawn," PTI quotes a top AIFF official as saying.

Brushing aside concerns, IFA Secretary Utpal Ganguly said that the necessary documents would be provided by Monday morning before the AIFF Emergency Committee meeting starts.

MUMBAI: Premier League Soccer, West Bengal?s franchise-based soccer league, has mopped up Rs 712.5 million through the sale of five franchises while the sixth one went unsold.

Surprisingly, the Barasat franchise has gone for a higher price than that of Kolkata, the epicentre of football. URO Infrarealty has taken the Barasat franchise for Rs 251.5 million, paying over three times the floor price of Rs 8 million.

Siliguri was the second costliest franchise, going to Ajay Consultants for Rs 180 million. The organisers had set the base price for the franchise at Rs 10 million.

Kolkata-based Camellia Group, which has interests in diverse sectors like aviation, education, and hospitality among others, bagged the Kolkata franchise for Rs 115 million. Kolkata had a base price of Rs 10 million.

The Howrah and Durgapur franchisees were bought by Syncsys Infotech and Tulip Infotech for Rs 90 million and Rs 76 million respectively.

The Haldia franchise is yet to find an owner as the bidders stuck on to their base price. Unsuccessful bidders will be given the right to purchase the unsold Haldia franchise. If they refuse, the franchise will go through a bidding process again.

All the three franchises - Howrah, Haldia and Durgapur - had a base price of Rs 7 million.

The franchises have been awarded for a period of 10 years. However, the current team owners will have a first right of refusal over the teams when the franchise term ends.

The organisers have fixed an expense cap for the season 1 of the league. While the maximum expense cap is $2.5 million, the minimum has been fixed at $2.0 million.

The organisers have also named six players -- Crespo, Sorin, Maniche, Jay Jay Okocha, Concecao, Robert Pires & Cannavaro -- who will be participating as icon players in the PLS Season I that kicks off in mid-February this year.

Each of the six franchise of PLS will be headed by world class coaches like Peter Reid, John Barnes, Samson Siasia, Marco Etcheverry, Tony Adams and Teitur Thodarson.

Said Camelia Group CMD and owner of Kolkata Team NR Dutta, "PLS will be the future of Indian football. I thank CMG and IFA for coming out with an unique concept and I am also looking forward to the foreign players and coaches auction.?

The exclusivity for PLS is that each team will have one icon player who will be an overseas player with great repute, preferably someone who has represented his country in international matches.

A host of quality international players have also been signed up. They are: Joaquin Botero (Bolivia), Limberg Gutierrez (Bolivia), Christian Lara (Ecuador), Maniche (Portugal), Diego Toro (Colombia), David Cordoba (Colombia), Brian Vega (Costa Rica), Diego Madrigal (Costa Rica), Jose Carlos Castillo (Guatemala), Christopher Omoseibi (Nigeria), Robert Egbeta (Nigeria), Daniel Varela (Costa Rica), Erick Sanchez (Costa Rica), Leider Preciado (Colombia), Edwin Tenorio (Ecuador), Walter Moreno (Venezuela), Alonso Solis (Costa Rica), Fabio Firmani (Italy), Nicolas Marin (France), Moncef Zerka (France), Sammy Traore (France), Igor Hrabac (Slovakia), Matjaz Kek (Slovenia) and Diego Cabrera (Bolivia).

The auction for foreign players will take place today in Kolkata, while the auction for Indian players will be conducted on 7 February.

As already reported, the international media rights have been sold to MP & Silva, while negotiations are on with at least three broadcasters for the South Asia rights. The organisers are targeting $5-6 million from season 1 of the PLS.

The Indian Football Association (West Bengal), the governing body of football in West Bengal, has signed a 30-year deal with Celebrity Management Group to launch the PLS on the lines of US? Major League Soccer.