MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to get fans more involved with its football coverage. In the recent past it launched the interactive initiative Goals in asociation with Nokia. This was for the English Premier league (EPL).

Earlier this month it had announced that Bobby Robsoin would join its team of commentators for the EPL and FA Cup. Now to give the EPL an additional boost it has launched a 13 part series Toyota Football Up Close.

Hosted by one of ESS’ best-known faces, John Dykes, Toyota Football Up Close covers a series of in-depth profile interviews with past or present players from the English Premier League. The show focuses primarily on the players’ career in the game, embellished with brief highlights from the archives and statistics.

Throughout the series, football viewers will get the real deal as the programme is shot entirely on location in the UK. The show airs every Wednesday at 6:30 pm.

ESS production VP Huw Bevan said, "Toyota Football Up Close adds that something extra to whet the appetite of our football viewers who are constantly craving for more soccer news, especially updates and information on their favourite players. Our close association with the League enabled us to gain access to some of the world’s best players. They openly and candidly talked about their careers in extended interviews.

" Our new show has allowed the network to take full advantage of this relationship to produce a programme series with a distinct style and format. We are certain our viewers will find this new format very entertaining."

Dykes talks to the biggest names in the world of football such as Dennis Bergkamp, Gary Speed, Steve McManaman, Sam Allardyce, Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer, Jamie Redknapp and David Dein.