Former football legends like David Trezeguet, Edgar Davids, Gianluca Zambrotta, Camoranesi, Fabrizio Ravanelli who donned the famed Juventus colours and Frank de Boer, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Simao Sabrosa, Jose Edmilson and Eric Abidal the man who fought cancer will be part of the FC Barcelona team which will turn out at The D Y Patil Stadium at Nerul in Navi Mumbai, to play an exhibition match against their counterparts from Italy on April 27.
It will be a rare opportunity for Mumbaikars to watch in flesh, these football greats who regaled them in their prime when they turned out for their famed clubs. This was announced by Dr Vijay Patil who heads the D Y Patil Academy in a media conference at the historic Cooperage ground. Trezeguet and Zambrotta are World Cup winners while Davids, de Boer and Edmilson have been part of their national teams in the World Cup.
While addressing the media Dr Patil said that like cricket, football too has a good following in India and the region is set to be one of the biggest football destinations in future. The process has already been set in motion by the hosting of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup last year in India. India’s showing in the marquee event was quite good and the promise shown by our boys have raised the expectations of the whole nation. The exhibition match is part of our efforts to popularise the game albeit in a small way by inviting the stars of yesteryear.
Koushik Moulik, the founder of Football Next Generation came up with this idea which was readily supported by Shiv Sena Youth leader Aditya Thackeray who is the President of the Mumbai District Football Association and Dr Vijay Patil who has adopted football by accepting the Chairman’s post of the MDFA.
For the D Y Patil Academy, it is part of our endeavour to promote as many sports disciplines as possible and the response that we got during the U-7 World Cup prompted us to hold this event which would act as the stepping stone in future for something bigger and attractive,” Dr Vijay Patil.
In a video message the president of the Mumbai District Football Association, Aditya Thackeray, said: "It's a big day for Mumbai."
Football’s present superstar Lionel Messi has sent an autographed jersey to the MDFA President Aditya Thackeray acknowledging his efforts in organising this match to promote football in a big way in Mumbai. Dr Patil accepted the memento on Aditya’s behalf in his absence.
The rest of the players are: Paolo Monteiro, Mauro German, Ciro Ferrara, Mark Luliano, Moreno Torricelli, Stefani Tacconi, Nicola Amorusa, Christian Zenoni, Alssandro Brindelli, Manual Dimas (Juventus), Andoni Golcoetxea, Frederik Dehu, M A Nadal, Juan Carlos Rodrigeuz, Gaizka Mendieta and Julio Salinas (Barcelona).
The game will be telecast live by the two clubs on their own TV. The cost of tickets for the public to watch the game at the stadium will be priced between ₹500 and ₹1,500.
You can get your tickets here
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