Lack of venues sees start of India's Premier League Soccer postponed

• PLS organisers targeting mid-April launch in West Bengal
• Fabio Cannavaro and Robert Pires among 'icon' players





The former France international Robert Pires is one of the 'icon' players due to play in
India's Premier League Soccer. Photograph: Alex Morton/Action Images

The inaugural edition of India's Premier League Soccer (PLS), featuring the World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro and former France international Robert Pires, has been postponed because of a lack of venues.

The six-team competition, modelled on the successful Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket tournament, was due to kick off in the eastern state of West Bengal, but the organisers said they could not secure the stadiums owned by the state government.

"Discussion is on with the state government but even if it is sorted out by the end of this week, we would need time to prepare the fields," said Dharamdutt Pandey, chief executive of the event management company which conceived PLS.

The secretary of All India Football Federation's West Bengal unit was in touch with the state sports minister and the issue would be resolved soon, Pandey claimed.

"These are minor issues and PLS is very much on. We are now targeting a mid-April start for the league. It would require at least one month to upgrade the stadiums to an international standard," Pandey added.

The auction of PLS players on 30 January – mostly in the twilight of their careers – and coaches had whetted the appetite for the competition. Franchises spent nearly $7m in the auction where Argentina's Hernán Crespo proved the league's hottest property, fetching $840,000 (£535,000). Cannavaro ($830,000), Pires ($800,000), Nigeria's Jay-Jay Okocha ($550,000) and Robbie Fowler ($530,000) were also auctioned as "icon" players among franchises based in different cities in West Bengal.

Among the coaches, the former Manchester City and Sunderland manager, Peter Reid, and Marco Etcheverry, arguably the greatest Bolivian player, went for $200,000 each.

PLS is the second league that set out to replicate IPL's success before teething problems led to postponements. Earlier this month, promoters of an IPL-style nine-team motor racing league deferred the 12-race competition to next year because of logistic issues.

Posted in: PLS (Indian Premier League)