Aston Villa’s Chinese owner eyes ISL club

THE GROUP’S INTEREST IN THE ISL WAS SPIKED WITH THE IMG RELIANCE’S PUSH TO EXPAND THE LEAGUE TO A FULL-CALENDAR FORMAT THAN THE EXISTING TWOMONTH VERSION

NEW DELHI: Xia Jiantong, the chairman of China-based Recon Group, which this June bought 100% stake in English club Aston Villa, wants to own a club in the Indian Super League. The ISL club, either a takeover of an existing franchise or a new one when the league expands to a 10or 16-team format, will be among the many ‘Villa branded’ clubs in the world, with the company stating its ambition to invest in the US Major League Soccer and Australia’s A-league.

On Monday, Recon Group announced their arrival in India with a modest beginning, tying up with the New Delhi Municipal Council to start an Aston Villa Academy in Delhi. “We have already identified the land for the academy. The work for setting up the infrastructure would begin soon. The NDMC will be financing that; we will provide coaches and technical support. This would be an academy for the masses, not the affluent,” said Chris Samuelson, the deputy chairman of the Aston Villa Football Club. The club says they have an agreement to run the academy for at least three years.

The group has held talks with various stakeholders of Indian football.

“The feedback we got is that the ISL will expand to a 16-team league, or the other option is they will add two more clubs next season to make it a 10-team league. We need to see which is the best solution for us,” said Jiantong. The group’s interest in the ISL was spiked with the IMG Reliance’s push to expand the league to a full-calendar format than the existing two-month version.

“Our plan is to expand to many countries. We may brand all the clubs ‘Villa’ with the name of the city they would be based in,” Jiantong added.

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