Bhaichung ropes in Ronaldo, Cafu and Ruud Gullit to play exhibition match for Sikkim

GANGTOK, 05 Dec: Bhaichung Bhutia, still recovering from an injury, may be staying off competitive football for the time being, but has been keeping extremely busy. The task of nurturing a club he now co-owns, the demands of a newborn he was recently blessed with, the two football academy projects he is spearheading, and then his sense of responsibility towards Sikkim, a calling which has grown urgent because of the 18 September Earthquake.
As recent successes bear out, he has been doing consistently well on all counts, and today, Bhaichung unveiled plans to organize a mega exhibition match in January 2012 to raise funds for earthquake rebuilding in Sikkim and for former India internationals in need.
Bhaichung, who left for Mumbai shortly after returning to Sikkim with the victorious USFC team from Agartala, is busy putting the finishing touches to this mega event scheduled to be held in Kolkata on 16 January 2012. He was in Mumbai to tie up celebrity and cross-disciplinary participation in this match. Speaking to NOW! over the phone as he was driving back to Gangtok this evening, Bhaichung confirmed the exhibition match and shared that clearer details of the event will be announced at a press conference scheduled for 16 December.
What he did share was that the exhibition match will be played between ex-international players and an India team of footballers, celebrities and cricketers. The 16 December press conference to be held in Kolkata is scheduled to be addressed by Dutch legend Ruud Gullit as well. Needless to add, Ruud Gullit will take the field in an exhibition for Sikkim next Jan. Joining him will be such greats as Cafu of Barzil, Marcel Desailly of France, Paolo Maldini of Italy, Patrick Kluivert of the Netherlands, Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon, Frenchman Christian Karembeu, Ronaldo of Brazil and Rene Higuita of Colombia.
The exhibition match, the brainchild of Bhaichung, planned in the wake of the 18 September Earthquake, is being held under the aegis of Football Players Association of India (FPAI), an organization spearheaded by Bhaichung in August 2006, and which he continues to head.
Parts of the proceeds, Bhaichung informed, will go towards earthquake relief in Sikkim and portion to ex-internationals of India in need.
Ruud Gullit will be the coach of the International XI side while Shyam Thapa will be his Indian counterpart.