Former Indian cricket captains Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly will be part of the country's new professional football competition.

The pair were on Sunday announced as co-owners of franchises in a new professional football league on the subcontinent.

The announcement was made by organizers of the Indian Super League, which is expected to see aging stars like Thierry Henry, Hernan Crespo and Fredrik Ljungberg in action in the first edition from September to November this year.

Tendulkar has bagged the franchise for the southern Indian city of Kochi along with business group PVP ventures, which also owns a team in the Indian Badminton League.

Ganguly will co-own the Kolkata team as part of a consortium that also includes Spanish league team Atletico Madrid.