In Conversation with Sunil Chhetri & Manohar Bhat (KIA Motors India) on OMBC, FIFA World Cup and More [Video]

Kia Motors, the South Korean auto giant is an official partner of FIFA since 2007, which means apart from providing vehicles to delegates at the FIFA World Cup, they also get to send Official Match Ball Carriers. This year marks a special entry for India at the 2018 FIFA World Cup as for the first time ever, two kids are representing the nation as OMBCs, all thanks to Kia Motors, who have announced to start operations in India by 2019. For selecting the OMBCs from India, Kia roped in Indian Football Team captain Sunil Chhetri, a man ecstatic about India’s win at Intercontinental Cup 2018. We got in touch with Manohar Bhat, Marketing Head for Kia India and Sunil Chhetri to talk about a variety of topics. Here’s an excerpt–

- On the recent win in Intercontinental Championship

Sunil Chhetri – We are really happy with the win and a lot of youngsters did really well. Fans turned up, which was really heartening. It’s a long journey ahead and we have to world really hard.

- On Kia’s OMBC Initiative for Football World Cup 2018

Sunil Chhetri – I am really happy with the Kia’s Official Match Ball Carrier Initiative and a real honor to be part of it. 2 kids are selected out of 1500 kids. It’s a very unique initiative and both the kids will represent India. One of them got the Brazil game, while the other got a Belgium game.

- On the OMBC Selection procedure

Sunil Chhetri – We had more than 1500 kids, who were tested on 6 different skills. After going place to place, we had the final selection in Gurgaon. Out of 1500 kids, only 2 winners were selected.

- On his favorite team in Football World Cup 2018

Sunil Chhetri – The team that I like and is my favorite is Spain. The ones who will strong are Germany and Brazil. I think France and Belgium will be strong too.

- On Kia’s association with Football World Cup 2018

Manohar Bhat - Kia is associated with FIFA since 2007 and this relationship will go on till 2022 at least. One of the privilege that we get as partners with FIFA is to select kids to represent their countries as OMBC. We have selected 2 kids from India.

- On Sunil Chhetri’s association with Kia

We are privileged to have Sunil Chhetri as a judge for OMBC. He took time from his busy schedule and the inputs he gave us and the kids are really commendable. We are thankful to him and the kids look upto him.

- On Kia’s plan for India

The work on the Kia’s factory started last year and will be completed by 2019. It is made with an investment of more than 1.1 million dollars and the capacity will be of 300,000 units annually.

- On Kia’s marketing plan for Indian market

Kia is known for its young at heart and stylish products. We are sure it will strike a chord with young buyers who are looking at a cutting edge product. We are anticipating a good response from Indian buyers.