NRI, fifth richest man in the world, has bought up a 20 per cent stake
in Queen's Park Rangers, soccer club UK

NRI Lakshmi Mittal, fifth-richest man in the world, worth US$32 billion has bought a 20 percent stake in League Championship soccer club Queens Park Rangers, UK. Mittal's son-in-law Amit Bhatia will sit on the club's board and represent Lakshmi Mittal

Amit Bhatia said:

• The family is excited about becoming involved with Queens Park Rangers Football Club.
• As a family, we love sport and particularly enjoy English football, and alongside Bernie and Flavio, we hope that we can improve the club's performance, with the ultimate ambition of a place in the Premier League.
  

QPR, Park Rangers soccer club:

• QPR was taken over by Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone and Renault team boss Flavio Briatore in November, did not disclose the sum paid for the stake.
• QPR are currently bottom of the Championship, but they could now potentially join near neighbours and FA Cup third round opponents Chelsea in the transfer market, should Mittal wish to spend his cash
• Representative of QPR said Mittal family's investment is a great stepping stone towards the future development of the club and supports the ambition of the current shareholders to reach the Premier League in the near future.
• The new capital being invested in QPR will help fund the program that is needed to help us achieve this target.

Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English football club, based at Shepherds Bush in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London. The club's first team currently plays in the Football League Championship.The club is commonly referred to as "QPR" or often just "Rangers" by fans. Other nicknames include the "Hoops" or the "Superhoops" (

QPR was formed in 1882, when a team known as St Jude's merged with Christchurch Rangers. The resulting team was called Queens Park Rangers, because most of the players came from the Queens Park area of North-West London. QPR became a professional team in 1889 and played their home games in nearly 20 different stadia (a league record), before permanently settling in Loftus Road in 1917 (although the team briefly played at White City between 1931-3 and 1962-63 in the hope of attracting larger crowds).

QPR were promoted as champions of Division 3 South in the 1947/48 season. Prior to the start of the 1959-60 season saw the arrival of arguably the club's greatest ever manager, Alec Stock.

The 1960-61 season saw QPR achieve their biggest win to date - 9-2 vs Tranmere Rovers in a Division 3 match. In time, Stock, with the advent as Chairman in the mid-60s of Jim Gregory helped to achieve a total transformation of the club and its surroundings.

In 1966-67, QPR won the Division Three championship and became the first Third Division club to win the League Cup on Saturday, March 4, 1967, beating West Bromwich Albion 3-2,

Gerry Francis, a key player in the 1970s QPR side who had proved himself as a successful manager with Bristol Rovers, was appointed manager in the summer of 1991.

In the 1991-92 First Division campaign they finished mid-table in the league and were founder members of the new Premier League which began in 1992. Francis oversaw one of QPR's most famous victories, the 4-1 win at Old Trafford in front of live TV on New Years Day 1992. They finished that season in fifth place, and in the following season Francis guided them to a ninth place finish.

Midway through the 1994-95 season Francis resigned and very quickly became manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Ray Wilkins was installed as player-manager. Wilkins led QPR to an eighth place finish in the Premiership. In July 1995 the club's top goalscorer, Les Ferdinand, was sold for a club record fee of £6 million to Newcastle United.

Queens Park Rangers

Full name Queens Park Rangers
Football Club
Nickname(s) The Hoops, The 'R's
Founded 1882
Ground Loftus Road (Rangers Stadium)
Shepherd's Bush
Hammersmith
(Capacity 19,128)
Chairman Gianni Paladini
Manager Luigi De Canio
League The Championship
2006–07 The Championship, 18th

NRI Lakshmi Mittal, fifth-richest
man in the world