MUMBAI - Leading Spanish club Atletico Madrid and former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly are among the owners of eight franchises of a new Indian Soccer League set to kick off later this year, organisers said yesterday.

La Liga leaders Atletico and former India captain Ganguly were part of the consortium that won the bid for the Kolkata team in the Indian Super League (ISL), proposed to start in mid-September and run till the end of November.

The ISL is bank-rolled by India's Reliance Industries, controlled by the country's richest man Mukesh Ambani, Rupert Murdoch's Star India and sports management group IMG.

"I'm excited to have won the Kolkata Franchise of the ISL and being the first international team to be directly owning a club in India. We, along with our Indian Partners and IMG-Reliance, aim to revolutionise football in the country," Miguel Angel Gil Marin, the owner of Atletico, said.

Former batting great Tendulkar bagged the Kochi team.

"I will always remain a sportsman at heart," Tendulkar, who retired from cricket last November, said.

"The Indian Super League presents a great opportunity to develop a platform for the youngsters to learn and enhance their talent to develop into outstanding players. With the Kochi club, we will strive to 'score our goals' and play a part in developing the game."