PLS tournament dates announced

The organisers of the Premier League Soccer have announced the dates of the inaugural season of the new franchise-based West Bengal city league. The league opening match would be played on March 24 with the final slated for May 6.

The dates mean that the PLS will start a month later then originally planned. This way the league does not clash with the IFA Shield, set to be played between March 2 to 17; but it does clash with the fifth season of Cricket's Indian Premier League which is set to be played from April 4 to May 27.

A total of 35 matches would be played over the duration of the tournament with five of the matches being knockout games. The total prize money would be Rs 15 Million (1,5 Crores) with the champions getting Rs 5 Million (50 lakh).

Also it was announced that the sixth franchise has been sold meaning the PLS would start with six teams. Kolkata-based Grey Mind Communications bought the Haldia franchise. They will have Argentina's 2006 FIFA World Cup captain Juan Pablo Sorin as their icon player, while English-Jamaican John Barnes will be their coach.

The auction of the Indian players would be held on February 12. The base price for these players have been set at Rs 200,000 to 300,000 (2-3 lakhs).