After Maradona nod, Lahiri clinched deal with River Plate

Kolkata, November 5: Thirty-one years after playing host to the great Pele, Kolkata is now gearing up to welcome Diego Maradona. Come December, the legendary Argentine footballer is expected to fly all the way down to the football-crazy city on a promotional tour. And in the course of the much-awaited two-day trip, Maradona is expected to visit the Mother House and will then inaugurate a state-of-the-art sports facility at a fast-growing township off Kolkata.

If Maradona’s trip materialises in the first week of December, then Kolkata will end the year on a high, having hosted stalwart German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn’s farewell match in summer, with another German legend Karl Heinz Rummenigge expected to visit the Bengal district of Burdwan on December 12.

Member of Parliament Shamik Lahiri is one of the key people behind the effort to bring Maradona to Kolkata, and working overtime alongside him to make the project work are Indian Football School (IFS), event managers Celebrity Management Group and real estate bigwig Eden City. The launch of the new sports facility, IFS, at Maheshtala is the main focus of the organisers.

Led by the Bengal MP, a three-member team had gone over to Maradona’s residence in Buenos Aires last week, where the organisers claim they struck a “deal” with the star of the 1986 World Cup. As per plans, Maradona is expected to visit Kolkata accompanied by wife Claudia and daughter Dalma, and he will kick-start his trip by launching the IFS centre in Maheshtala. Maradona is eager to visit the Mother House in Kolkata, run by the Missionaries of Charity and made famous by late Mother Teresa. MP Lahiri gave The Indian Express the lowdown of the high-profile trip after a Bengali daily ran a story on the expected visit.

“Following email exchanges routed through Claudia, Maradona agreed to meet us at his residence,” the MP said here today. “As a die-hard football fan, I thought upon this idea and finally it materialised on November 1. We called on at his new residence. We found him very cordial and humble. He is very keen to visit the Mother House. He spent more than an hour with us and signed a deal to visit Kolkata.”

Apart from roping in Maradona, the IFS, with the help of Lahiri, also went on to strike a deal with renowned South American club River Plate.

News of the legendary Argentine’s expected trip to Kolkata has come at a time when Maradona has been named coach of the national team back home. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) ended days of speculation after formally announcing today that Maradona has been picked coach of the senior national side.

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