MELBOURNE // European champions Real Madrid will headline a pre-season international tournament at Australia’s 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground next year, organisers said on Monday.
The glamorous Spanish outfit, featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez among others, will play in the International Champions Cup along with an English Premier League team and Italian Serie A side.
Organisers said the other teams, reported to be Manchester City and Inter Milan, would be revealed in the next few weeks. The tournament will take place from July 18-24.
With the securing of Real Madrid’s huge box-office appeal, organisers are hoping to build on the local appetite for top European clubs after a 95,000 crowd watched English Premier League Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Australia’s Melbourne Victory at the MCG last year.
“We are aware of the large number of Real Madrid fans in Australia and it will be a pleasure to be close to them and give them the best that the club has to offer,” Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said in a statement.
The round-robin tournament in Australia is an offshoot of the main International Champions Cup which is staged in North America and next year will feature eight teams.
Ten-time European champions Real Madrid were named FIFA’s Club of the 20th Century and are worth an estimated 500 million euros ($618 million).
Ronaldo is the current holder of the FIFA Ballon d’Or handed out annually to the world’s best player, while Colombia’s Rodriguez was voted the best player at this year’s World Cup in Brazil.
Follow our sports coverage on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
The specs
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Company%20Profile
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Six pitfalls to avoid when trading company stocks
Following fashion
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Losing your balance
You end up with too much exposure to an individual company or sector that has taken your fancy.
Being over active
If you chop and change your portfolio too often, dealing charges will eat up your gains.
Running your losers
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Selling in a panic
If you sell up when the market drops, you have locked yourself out of the recovery.
Timing the market
Even the best investor in the world cannot consistently call market movements.
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
