On the day that it became the richest sports brand in the world, the Board of Control for Cricket in India finally signed coach Greg Chappell [Images] and his support staff on board formally.

"The Board offered formal contracts till the 2007 World Cup to Greg Chappell, John Gloster (team physio), Gregory King (trainer) and Ian Frazer (bio-mechanic expert). They signed the deal," BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said in Mumbai on Friday.

After clinching the kit sponsorship deal with Nike, Indian cricket team has become the most valued brand globally across all sports in terms of sponsorship revenues, pushing Italian football club Juventus to the second place.

Global sports accessories major Nike signed the official kits sponsorhip deal for Rs 196.66 crore and recently the BCCI gave the rights for displaying logo on chest and leading arm of players shirts to Air Sahara for Rs 313 crore.

Juventus is valued at 22.2 million dollars in terms of sponsorship revenues, followed by Chelsea Football Club of London [Images] at 17.5 million dollars, 100-year old Spanish soccer and basketball club Real Madrid [Images] at 16.8 million dollars and Manchester United [Images] at 14 million dollars.

With the BCCI's new-found riches, a quantum jump in the retainership in the player contracts as compared to last year, when 17 players were divided into three groups -- A, B and C, with the retanership being Rs 50, Rs 35 and Rs 20 lakh per annum respectively, is expected.

Players Gradation committee of the BCCI, with President Sharad Pawar [Images] at its helm, also had its meeting in Mumbai on Friday to finalise the overdue players contract for the new season.

Pawar, national senior selection committee chairman Kiran More, Chappell and Shah met at the Cricket Club of India to give final touches to the contracts.

Sachin Tendulkar [Images] was also present but Shah said the batting maestro was on a personal visit to to meet Pawar.

The Indian team for the upcoming tour of Pakistan is also to be chosen in Mumbai on Saturday.

The BCCI disburses 13 per cent of its gross revenue to the contracted players for internatonal cricket and a further 13 per cent is earmarked to be distributed to players in domestic cricket.

The number of players to be put under contract and the gradation formula are to be announced by the board only on Saturday, according to Niranjan Shah.

The Board has already said that the contracts would be in place before the team departs for Pakistan on January 6, 2006.