After ISL and IPL, is RP Sanjiv Goenka now eyeing a foreign football team?

Sanjiv Goenka already co-owns a team in the Indian Super League (Atletico de Kolkata) and is the owner of the Pune franchise, the Rising Pune Supergiants, in the Indian Premier League Now, the industrialist wants to take his sporting empire further by acquiring an international football team, according to a report in the Economic Times. [caption id=“attachment_2628354” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rising Pune Supergiants’ Sanjiv Goenka and captain MS Dhoni at the launch of the new IPL team’s jersey. Image Credit: Naresh Sharma/Firstpost[/caption] When asked what next, Goneka, the chairman of the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, was  quoted by  The Hindu Businessline as saying, “It could be expansion activity in the sports that we are already present in. We could hypothetically look at acquiring a football club overseas. But our immediate focus is to build a football academy and get into grassroots football. We will also look at expanding (group’s presences) to other sports. I am enjoying my tryst with sports.” The Economic Times also quotes Goenka as saying that he has been enjoying his tryst with sports and there are many lessons he has learnt from the two seasons of ISL. His team, Atletico de Kolkata, has not broken even so far but he said,‘I can see the path to profitability.’ The Pune team was purchased for Rs 16 crore in the bidding for new teams and has been named Rising Pune Supergiants, India’s limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be leading the team and it boasts of the likes Ajinkya Rahane, Faf Du Plessis, Steve Smith, Irfan Pathan, Albie Morkel, and Ravichandran Ashwin, among others. Former CSK coach, Stephen Fleming is the head coach. The jersey for the RPSG was launched by Goenka and Dhoni on Monday, where the former CSK captain had said that, “I would be lying if I say I have moved on. That is the special part of being a human being. There is got to be an emotional connect after eight years (with CSK).”