Nepali PR co. starts soccer management in India with

Nepali PR co. starts soccer management in India with big bang: Ronaldo!
By Sujit Chakraborty
Published: 14 Nov 2011 - 05:34
NEW DELHI: Nepal-based events management company Jetset PR (JPR) has big plans for football in the Indian subcontinent and will start its
operations
with the Super Football Series as a completely new concept, the managing director of the company Sunil Hamal told SportzPower on
Friday.
The first in the series will be the team captained by recently retired Brazilian footballing great Ronaldo and the team of former star footballers will
play against an Indian ‘dream team’ , captained by former Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia, in Kolkata in December.
Explaining his concept, Hamal said: “Super Football is completely our company’s concept, where some of the best former international players who
are still active will form a team, and play against the dream team of the countries where we take the series.”
For instance, the first Super Football team created by JPR, comprise Brazil's World Cup-winning captain Cafu and compatriot Rai, Dutchmen Rudd
Gullit, who will be the coach of the team, Patrick Kluivert, Winston Bogarde, Ronald De Boer and Regi Blinker, and German greats Oliver Kahn and
Lothar Mathaeus.
“We have offices in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and Dubai, and are opening up our European office in Germany. The plan is to take the
series to20 countries, including Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and other countries,” Hamal informed.
The first match of the first Super football team will be in Nepal on December 9, and play at the Dasrath Rangashala stadium in Kathmandu, followed
by the exhibition match in Calcutta’s Salt Lake Stadium.
“The members of the Super Football team may change from time to time, but the series will visit various countries under the same banner and the
same concept,” he stressed.
Hamal does not get drawn into sponsorship or revenue model issues: “Is it mandatory to talk on financial issues?” he asks teasingly, but says that
ticket sales and sponsorships will be key revenue streams but as of now there are no global sponsors.
Interestingly, this is not a nouveaux company wanting to start with a bang. Their first bang by this eight-year old company happened in February 19
this year, when rock star Brian Adams literally set on fire the Rangashala with music crazy Nepalis drooling.
Pulling off that kind of a show in a country that is changing governments as readily as people change clothes is not an easy one, Hamal admits, but
says one of his aims is to bring some focus in the youth force in the country, as they are a lost generation amidst the political doldrums.
Hamal explains that the company’s entry into sport management is fairly new.
“During that concert, I met with a German lady who has been associated with German football associations for many years and she suggested that
there was a big market for football, so why doesn’t our company get into it,” Hamal explained the background.
In fact, he says, while the lady had merely suggested taking up soccer management as a business, Hamal himself had coined the idea of Super
Football.
Now, though, the lady has joined the company and is setting up the European company in Germany.
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But when Indian sports management companies are not getting any good product mix such as his, how come JPR managed this?
Hamal suggests that the failure of the Indian companies is that they do are not in touch with such footballers.
“That is our strength. The German lady knows these stars in many countries, and I have personally met them, including Ronaldo himself, and
convinced him about the concept,” he says.
But how will these big shows help the sport of soccer grow?
Hamal explains: “The show is not the only thing or the main thing. The idea is to hold closed camps where these greats will train local talents, for a
day may be. But in the lives of such players, this is a big thing. Just imagine the joy of being corrected on some small technique by Ronaldo, or being
praised by Cafu.”
These camps will be held everywhere the series visits, and Hamal is looking for schools and NGOs handling street children to partner with.
In fact, more official football engagements are also in JPRs immediate plans, as it is bringing VfB Stuttgart to play Mohan Bagan next year, a formal
announcement for which will be made later this month.
The idea is not just to grow a money plant, but grow the sport in the subcontinent, Hamal says.
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