Bunty Walia’s All Stars Football Club (ASFC) is offering caps signed by Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan, the proceeds of which will go to charity. All Stars Football Club is owned by Playing For Humanity and managed by GS Sports (owned by producer Bunty Walia) and aims at raising funds for charity while bringing together sports and entertainment and creating awareness about football.
Says a source, “If these three caps — one each by Arjun [Kapoor], Abhishek [Bachchan] and Ranbir [Kapoor], get sold out then more merchandise will be planned — maybe their autographed tees along with caps. Autographed caps by Tiger [Shroff] and others might also be a part of this. When AFSC owner Bunty Walia conceived the football club a few years ago, he had thought about raising funds for charity through merchandising. One can do sportswear, leisure wear, and more, as ASFC has top actors playing for it though some of them have their own brands. They want to see what the response is before venturing out fully into merchandise, yet maintaining a balance so that there is no conflict of interest between the actor’s brand and the merchandise.”
Adding further the source says the proceeds from the sale of the merchandise will go to charity. “Everybody is doing something in their little way and this is one way the ASFC is trying to do its bit. It may not be a great sum of money, but we are taking baby steps to test the waters that the club is taking towards merchandising to raise funds for charity. Merchandising means production on a mass scale and all over India, but that’s not what it is right now. It’s a few autographed [Abhishek, Ranbir and Arjun] caps that they are starting with and selling for charity,” the source shares.
Bunty Walia confirmed the news.
AFSC boasts of some of the biggest names in Bollywood. The source adds that while Kartik Aaryan joined after the release of his movie, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, some of the new additions are Suniel Shetty’s son, Ahaan Shetty, who is making his Bollywood debut with Milan Luthria’s Tadap, Tiger Shroff and Ibrahim Ali Khan (Saif Ali Khan’s son), who joined the club in January this year.
“They are all passionate about football. Abhishek is the captain. While he loves football and basketball, he hasn’t been able to play this year because of his shoot commitments; Arjun, Ranbir and Tiger are constants on the field. They are passionate about the sport and rarely will you see them skip a match. While Tiger has resumed filming for his movie, Ranbir’s next schedule with Luv Ranjan will begin in Delhi.”
There are 36 team members today as the ASFC has grown over the years. The football club usually has charity matches to raise funds but due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, playing matches in India was put on hold. Games scheduled in Dubai, Bangalore, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and also with a few NGOs in India for 2020 were postponed. Even football practise has been sporadic because of the lockdowns in Maharashtra. ASFC played a charity match (2017) with the Indian cricket team led by Virat Kohli and another one with the Indian army and navy’s football team for the Kargil Cup Exhibition Football Match a couple of years ago.
Apart from these stars, others who also play AFSC matches are Ranveer Singh, Aditya Roy Kapur, cricketer MS Dhoni, Sidharth Malhotra, ace photographer Rohan Shrestha, Ishaan Khatter, Leander Paes, Dino Morea, Aparshakti Khurana, Shabir Ahluwalia, Vivian Dsena, Karan Wahi, Karan Veer Mehra, Shashank Khaitan, Sachiin Joshi, Shoojit Sircar, Armaan Jain, Aadar Jain, Jim Sarbh, Karan Singh Deol, Abhimanyu Dassani, Caesar Gonsalves, among several others.
