Indian Telephone Industries Sports Club, best known for its football team, is about to close down due to dearth of funds, a key official of the club confirmed on Tuesday.

"We are moving in that direction as we have simply run out of funds," Club president P B O Warjri told PTI in Bangalore. "We will have to close down."

The explanation for shutting the club, among the oldest in the country, is understandable as the Bangalore-based telecom equipment major has been incurring huge losses in recent years.

ITI was a powerful football team a few decades ago. They were national club champions in 1977, winning the inaugural Federation Cup, before fading away.

The team showed signs of revival a few years back by grabbing a place in the premier division National Football League, but was relegated to the second division last season.

Warjri also indicated that ITI Football Club is up for grabs. "If there are interested parties, we are willing to hand over the football club," he said.

The club was also active in other sports, including hockey, volleyball, basketball and ball badminton, but those teams never rose to the heights of the football team, which gave ITI a national name.

A few years ago, ITI were also state champions in about half-a-dozen disciplines in Karnataka.