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Five years ago on this very day – May 25, 2008 – Bundesliga giants FC Bayern Munich touched down for Oliver Kahn’s farewell match a couple of days later against Mohun Bagan AC as part of their post-season Asian Tour which also had taken them to Jakarta, Indonesia. I still remember the day like yesterday, though it was a very busy working day for myself as I was a part of the FCB team. An hour before FC Bayern arrived in Kolkata, Bollywood superstar and the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders Shahrukh Khan landed at the airport, which led to a frenzy amongst the airport staff.
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An hour later at 12.10 IST, FC Bayern Munich landed at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport and was welcomed by many football-crazy airport employees before being taken to the VVIP lounge at the international terminal. Once the visa and immigration formalities were completed, the FCB squad headed for the ITC Sonar Bangla hotel with a legion of fans and media at the airport to greet them.
Once the team arrived at the ITC Sonar, it was mayhem all around, but no chaos as some would have expected as all went off in a somewhat organised matter. Once everyone had received their room cards and checked in, it was time for lunch, while a small legion went for the press conference.
A full room of journalists, tons of questions. These are the kind of press conferences which I love to moderate. Once done, it was a time to coordinate rest of the events of the day, get changed and then head for a kids clinic at the CCFC grounds in Ballygunge. Once done, the team headed back to the hotel.
Ahead of dinner, there was the chance for one-on-one interviews, tv interactions, etc. And the team had to attend a function happening at the ITC Sonar before it was over, while by this time IPL side KKR were also back in the hotel which meant high security for the hotel staff.
May 25, 2008 surely was different than the night today in London. Only, on both occasions, it was FCB for me and my work…
