From Shah Rukh's KKR to Ranbir Kapoor's Mumbai City FC: Celebs who own sports teams

Over the past few years, Bollywood celebrities have ventured into different profitable businesses and one among them is sports. Many B-Town stars are sports enthusiasts and have openly expressed their love for sports especially cricket and football. 

It all started in the year 2008 when the Indian Premier League (IPL) commenced and several A-listed stars including Shah Rukh Khan made their debut as owners of IPL cricket teams. Since then, many turned investors in different sports across the country.

Below are some of the sports teams owned by Bollywood celebrities.

Shah Rukh Khan:

Not just a successful actor but Shah Rukh is equally a smart businessman with multiple business ventures. But, his major sports venture is the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. Interestingly, KKR is not the only cricket team owned by SRK but he is also the proud co-owner of two cricket teams abroad - Cape Town Knight Riders (South Africa) and Trinbago Knight Riders (Trinidad & Tobago). 

Abhishek Bachchan:

Abhishek owns two sports leagues - Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) team is Jaipur Pink Panthers and Indian Super League (ISL) team Chennaiyin FC. In fact, the winner of the first season of PKL was Jaipur Pink Panthers and Chennaiyin FC have won two ISL titles so far.

Juhi Chawla: 

Juhi Chawla co-owns the franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, which she bought along with her friend Shah Rukh. KKR is one of the strongest teams in IPL and has won the league trophy twice since its inception in 2008. 

Ranbir Kapoor:

Ranbir bought a stake in football team Mumbai City FC, a prominent contender of Indian Super League (ISL). He is a self-confessed football lover and encourages his players by being present at all the matches played by his team. 

Preity Zinta:

Another Bollywood star Preity Zinta too has invested her fortune in IPL team - Kings XI Punjab, co-owned by her ex-boyfriend Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Mohit Burman. 

John Abraham:

The Dostana actor co-owns another team in ISL - Northeast United FC, which is based in Guwahati, Assam and represents 8 states in North East India, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, Tripura and Mizoram.

Akshay Kumar:

In 2017, Akshay bought stakes in Kolkata-based Pro-Kabaddi League franchise Bengal Warriors. In an interview, the Laxmmi Bomb actor had said: "I have always believed that sport plays a key role in shaping ones personality and health. I have admired how Star Sports has helped make Kabaddi so popular across the length and breadth of India and I am delighted to partner with Future Group to promote a homegrown sport like Kabaddi."