AFC Cup | Indian football team left in lurch after sponsors delay in sending kits
While the Indian football team are in UAE to play an international friendly against Oman, the team is still awaiting their full set of kit - including the practice kit and national jerseys. The kit was to be supplied by Six5Six, which has replaced Nike as the official kit sponsor of the team.
When Gurgaon-based sportswear brand, Six5Six, replaced Nike as the official kit sponsor in a deal with All India Football Federation (AIFF) reported to be worth somewhere between Rs 8-10 crore, there was a sense of doubt among many following Indian football because Nike had done their job quite efficiently in the past - both with football and cricket team, and if Six5Six could match their standard. Although Nike’s contract was to run until December 31, 2018, they failed to match the money given by Six5Six and removed themselves from supplying kits to the Indian football team.
However, Six5Six’s failure to provide the kits in the right time resulted in the team being forced to train away from the public glare wearing the old training kit provided by Nike. Because of the same reason, the federation has also not uploaded a single photo of the team’s training session in Abu Dhabi on its website or Social Media pages. ToI has also reported that the players will receive the team jerseys only on the eve of their match against Oman.
The deal with Six5Six was hardly surprising too as it was facilitated by Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), which operates the Indian Super League and is owned by IMG-Reliance Industries - the marketing partner of the AIFF. While AIFF played down the incident, stating “people are creating unnecessary controversy”, FSDL maintained that it was not their fault.
“There’s no reason for creating unnecessary controversy. Some of the kits have already been received, and by Tuesday the players will have all the kits with them,” AIFF secretary general
An FSDL official, however, said, “Nobody from the AIFF mentioned that they required