Former Newcastle United striker Michael Chopra has been picked by Sachin Tendulkar's Kerala Blasters early in the international player draft of soccer's Indian Super League (ISL).
Chopra, the only English player among 49 players in the draft, was picked by the south Indian franchise which is part-owned by retired Indian cricket legend Tendulkar.
"When the drafts came up, the first name that caught our attention was that of Chopra," Kerala Blasters' marque player and manager David James said. "We immediately decided to pick him and are happy to have him in this team."
Chopra will get $US58,185 ($A62,950) per season, with the amount announced by organisers.
Other prominent players picked in the early rounds were French defender Bernard Mendy for $US80,000 ($A86,557) and former Manchester United midfielder Bojan Djordjic of Sweden for $US58,185 ($A62,954) by the Chennai franchise while Spanish midfielder Jofre Mateu ($US58,185) went to Atletico de Kolkata.
The order of draft picks was decided by draw of lots, with the teams choosing from players in pre-decided sets according to their positions of play.
Giant screens showed the draft process inside the hall at a prominent five-star hotel facing the Arabian sea even as media awaited details in a different hall.
All the teams have the option of selecting one marquee player each and two other international players outside the draft process.
Teams will have squads of 22 with a similar process for Indian players completed last month. Most of the Indian players also figure in the national I-League tournament run by the All India Football Federation, which is likely to play second fiddle to the heavily promoted ISL in coming seasons.
The I-League also features several foreign players but no big names since fees are generally much lower.
The eight-team ISL is scheduled to be held from October-December.
The presence of former cricketers and Indian film stars as co-owners in the league is expected to arouse interest in the cricket-crazy country of 1.2 billion where franchise leagues in other sports have mushroomed over the past few years.
Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly has a stake in Atletico de Kolkata, while Bollywood actors Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and John Abraham are among the other co-owners of teams in Pune, Mumbai and Shillong, respectively.
Organisers announced Bangalore franchise owners Sun Group had dropped out and would be replaced with one from Chennai - to be run in collaboration with top Italian club Internazionale. The name of the team will be announced later.
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