Indian celebrities, who are favoured by good fortune, often put their money in profitable ventures. Sports teams seem to be a common pick for not just the richest man in the country but various Bollywood stars and sportsmen as well. However, a thing to observe here is that while some Bollywood stars prefer to invest in cricket, sportsmen rather give an impetus to the other sports being played in the country. Here are 10 such Indian celebrities who have invested in sports teams.

Sports teams owned by 10 Indian celebrities

1. Mukesh Ambani – Mumbai Indians

Mukesh Ambani has seen a lot of wins this year. He moved around quite a bit among the top 10 of Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, by selling shares of Jio Platforms Pvt Ltd to Fortune 500 companies like Google and Facebook. He is now working towards building his own Amazon.com for India. However, looks like another win could be on the horizon now that the almost cancelled Indian Premier League (IPL) is back in action. Not only is he the richest Indian but also the second-richest among the owners of sports teams around the world. As it is well known, his wife Nita Ambani owns Mumbai Indians and as of February, the team had already crossed Rs 100 crore in sponsorships, according to a report by Economic Times.

2. Shah Rukh Khan – Kolkata Knight Riders

Shah Rukh Khan is as much of an astute businessman as he is a successful actor. The actor has his fingers in a lot of money pies, including the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. His tryst with the IPL has been infamous ever since he was banned from Wankhede Stadium for getting into an argument with the authorities. Considering 2020’s IPL is taking place in UAE and Shah Rukh Khan owns a bungalow in Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah area, we’d say things are looking up for him, among all the sports teams owners.

3. Preity Zinta – Kings XI Punjab

Preity Zinta is also among the Indian celebrities who invested their fortunes in sports teams. She is the part-owner of another IPL team, Kings XI Punjab along with her ex-boyfriend Ness Wadia, Mohit Burman and Karan Paul. This year, Preity’s team is headed by KL Rahul and at this year’s IPL, the team walked in with the biggest purse of Rs 42.70 crore as per Economic Times. They spent the most on Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and West Indian pacer Sheldon Cottrell, who were auctioned at Rs 10.75 crore and Rs 8.50 crore, respectively.

4. Juhi Chawla – Kolkata Knight Riders

It is a well-known fact that Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla are not only the oldest but also the best of buddies. And a few years ago, their friendship assumed the new role of business partnership when the two actors, along with Juhi’s husband Jay Mehta, decided to invest in sports teams, and that’s how we had Kolkata Knight Riders. This year KKR bought English bowler Pat Cummins, also the most expensive player of this season, for a staggering Rs 15.50 crore.

5. Lakshmi Mittal – Queen Park Rangers

Unlike most people on this list, the ArcelorMittal founder doesn’t own a local team. In fact, he has an ownership stake in the British football team, Queens Park Rangers (QPR). The club is co-owned by him and a Malaysian businessman called Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, and Tony Fernandes. According to Forbes, his current net worth is Rs 72,792 crore. However, QPR’s stake was taken over by his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, who was acting as its vice president up until 2018, a News18 report states.

6. Abhishek Bachchan – Jaipur Pink Panthers and Chennaiyan FC

Abhishek Bachchan is the founder/owner of two teams. The first is Chennaiyan FC, which is among the most successful Indian football team, and the other is Jaipur Pink Panther, which is his winning team from the Pro-Kabaddi League. Both these sports teams are extremely successful in their respective fields.

7. Ranbir Kapoor – Mumbai City FC

Ranbir Kapoor co-owns Mumbai City FC along with Bimal Parekh, a Chartered Accountant. The actor has been a fan of the sport for a really long time and has made his support for Barcelona and Manchester City known on many occasions. 

8. Sourav Ganguly – Atletico de Kolkata

Talking of the ISL, Sourav Ganguly, the former skipper of the Indian cricket team, is also among the Indian celebrities who now own sports teams. He owns a stake in the West Bengal-based Atletico de Kolkata. This venture is being run in partnership with Sanjiv Goenka, founder of the RPSG group, who is also among the richest Indian celebrities to have invested in sports teams.

9. Virat Kohli – FC Goa

Virat Kohli is the only Indian celebrity to make it to Forbes’ highest-paid athletes list and so it comes as no surprise at all that the Indian skipper has his money invested in FC Goa. They placed second in their first season with Brazilian legend Zico coaching them. However, in April 2020, Juan Ferrando took over as their manager. Kolhi has a 12% stake in FC Goa, which is also co-owned by Jaydev Mody, Akshay Tandon and Venugopal Dhoot, besides the Indian skipper.

10. Mahendra Singh Dhoni – Chennaiyan FC, Ranchi Rays and Mahi Racing Team India

We’re about to watch the last bout of cricket from Mahendra Singh Dhoni who retired from all forms of international cricket recently. The CSK captain and the former Indian skipper is a sportsman through and through. MSD has stakes in not one but three sports teams i.e. Chennaiyan FC, which is also a part of the ISL, hockey team Ranchi Rays and the Mahi Racing Team India. This makes sense given that Dhoni’s first love among all the sports was football. The cricketer shares ownership with none other than Abhishek Bachchan. He is probably the biggest petrol head among all the Indian celebrities, which explains his investment in the racing team. 

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