Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Bayern Munich to play against Mohun Bagan AC at Salt Lake stadium

Bayern Munich to play against Mohun Bagan AC at Salt Lake stadium
================================================================================
SportsDesk on 13 March, 2008 01:05:00
 
According to an announcement on the Bayern website, the Bundesliga leaders will
play the last tie of their 10-day Asian tour — after matches in Indonesia
and China — against Mohun Bagan AC, “the oldest club in Asia”.
“We’re delighted that Bayern will play in Calcutta,” the
Indian consul-general to Munich, J.S. Mukul, said in Munich on Tuesday.
The German club will be hosted by city-based real estate firm Bengal Peerless.
Contacted in Munich, the group’s managing director K.S. Bagchi said the
formal announcement will be made by Bayern officials in Calcutta on March 19.
“Yes, we have received a request from Bengal Peerless and we have
forwarded it to the All India Football Federation (AIFF),” said Utpal
Ganguly, the IFA secretary. “It’ll be a big day for Calcutta
football and Salt Lake Stadium should have a 100,000-plus crowd.”
Some Bayern biggies will be away for Euro 2008, but squaring up against Bagan
would be the likes of Mark van Bommel, Martin Demichelis, Lucio and Zé
Roberto.
“We see ourselves as a global club, desiring and requiring an overseas
presence,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told the club’s
website. “Our objective is not simply to play an exhibition match and
collect our fee. We want to contribute to the development of the game.”
Former Bagan great Chuni Goswami expressed “pleasant surprise” when
told of the Bayern trip. “It’s a great honour for Calcutta’s
and India’s football. I can’t wait to watch such a great club play
here. It also gives us the opportunity to give one of modern football’s
great stars a memorable send-off,” he said.