Kolkata: Football giants East Bengal will be celebrating their centenary next year and a slew of programmes are being planned to commemorate the occasion. The club are making every effort to rope in former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to don the red and gold jersey and represent the club in a match of the Calcutta Football League (CFL). Representatives of the club has already contacted Dhoni’s agent on this issue.
However, this is not something unique that the Kolkata football giants are planning. Way back in the 1990s, another stalwart of Indian cricket, Kapil Dev had donned the club’s jersey and played in an exhibition game. However, if Dhoni agrees to the proposal, he will be playing in a competitive match.
Dhoni’s love for football is well known. In fact football is one of his main training methods and he regularly plays the game. But then a competitive match is a different ball game altogether.
Sources informed here Saturday that club officials are also planning to honour MSD with life membership of the club. Dhoni’s agent has confirmed that time will not be a constraint if the match happens after the 50 overs World Cup cricket tournament in England. With the World Cup ending in July and the CFL starting in August, there is every possibility of East Bengal achieving their desired goal. Officials are highly optimistic after initial discussions with Dhoni’ss agent that the cricketer will don the club’s jersey and play a competitive football game.
Agencies