Scottish, French football league to kick off on Ten Sports

Mumbai, Aug 2 (UNI) Ten Sports will kick off its exclusive coverage of the European soccer leagues with the opening games of the Scottish and French football seasons on Saturday.

In Scotland, Little Inverness Caledonian Thistle will take on giants Rangers at a ground that has been specially enlarged for the game. Rangers have invested heavily in the off season, bringing in Carlos Cuellar from Spain's Osasuna for 2.37 million pounds as well as striker Jean-Claude Darcheville from Bordeaux, DaMarcus Beasley from Holland's PSV Eindhoven and former Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll, a press release here said.

Rangers need to get off to a good start to put the pressure on rivals Celtic, who will play Kilmarnock on Sunday.

In the French league, Olympic Marseille will play at Strasbourg in the first game of the season. Marseille is tipped to be the main threat to Lyon's attempt to claim their 7th successive Ligue 1 crown. Marseille have brought in established internationals such as Boudewijn Zenden, Djibril Cisse and Karim Ziani as well as Ligue 1 stalwarts Gael Givet and Benoit Cheyrou.

With gifted playmaker Samir Nasri - the ''new Zidane'' - still on their books, they suddenly look to have a squad that could compete with Les Gones this season as they aim to win their first league title since 1992.

They also have Champions League football to look forward to following their second-placed finish last term.

Marseille's first opponents Strasbourg are newly promoted this season, and will be hoping that their special occasion will inspire the side to upset the Marseille giants.

Ten Sports will show exclusive coverage of the French, Dutch and Scottish leagues this season as part of their new arrangement with pan Asian broadcaster Goal TV, under which Ten Sports gains access to a wide range of European football content, the release added.

UNI