Team Mumbai franchise in the Hero Indian Super League will be called Mumbai City FC and marquee signing will be chosen from the marquee players pool, it was announced yesterday. D Y Patil stadium, Navi Mumbai, was chosen as the home venue.
The head coach is still to be named, but it is learnt Peter Reid will be appointed. The Englishman is a former international and has extensive Premier League experience with Manchester City, Sunderland, Leeds United, Coventry City, Plymouth, Stoke City as manager, apart from a stint as national coach with Thailand.
Mumbai City FC is one of two HISL franchises to complete players’ recruitment for domestic and internationals from the draft pick without the head coach. Former FC Kochin goalkeeper Dinesh Nair was named as head of the grassroots programme, mandatory for each participating franchise in the event promoted by IMG-Reliance and Star India.
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Technical Director Nishant Mehra and COO Arunava Chaudhari, were present for the official launch along with actor Ranbir Kapoor and investment consultant Bimal Parekh, the co-owners. The squad made an appearance, including German international Manuel Friedrich, India internationals Subrata Paul and Syed Nabi were prominent.