Mumbai: At 25, Virat Kohli co-owns an ISL football team and he says his passion for the sport along with future planning influenced his decision to invest in FC Goa.

“Some might think I am pretty young to do something like this or it is a step taken too early, but nothing is never too early. If you believe in something, you have to put your 100 per cent commitment to it and I decided to do it because I want football to grow in India,” Kohli said.

“I just decided to come on board with FC Goa because of my love for football. It is also a business venture for the future.

“Cricket is not going to last forever so, whenever I am done, whenever I retire, I am keeping all my options open. It is something that excited me a lot and I tried to go ahead with it,” he said.

Kohli was confident that just as the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) has helped youngsters improve their game, the Indian Super League (ISL) will also help football players in the country.

“Where you get a chance to play with the legends of the game, you feed off their talent, you feed off their experience and learn as much as you can from them and your confidence level goes up. Because of this league, we will see the level of football going higher.

“The skill level is certainly going to improve, the confidence of the players, the infrastructure. ISL will help football be a major sport in India and I am all for it,” he said.

Kohli said he was involved with the franchise during the player’s draft, figuring out which players to pick for the squad.

He heaped praise on the club’s coach and Brazilian legend Zico. “It will make a lot of difference to the Indian players to be coached by Zico. The kind of experience and skill that he has, the kind of players he has worked with. I think we can get that to FC Goa.