Swiss marketing company to pocket revenue

All revenue from tonight's encounter between Brazil and Iran at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi will go to a sports marketing company based in Switzerland.

Since 2006, Kentaro has owned the rights to a series of Brazil internationals, which they have named the "Brazil World Tour". The series included last year's meeting between the Selecao and England in Qatar, which was played out in front of a capacity crowd at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha.

The English FA were reportedly paid £400,000 (Dh2.3million) to play that game, which they were contractually bound to do after Kentaro took Brazil to Wembley for the stadium's reopening in 2007.

Brazil make in excess US$3 million (Dh11m) from each of their World Tour matches, as part of their agreement with the agency. As such, the company hope tonight's maiden meeting between Iran and Brazil will attract a significant crowd in order to offset their outlay.

"The commercial risk of paying for the Brazilian team is covered by Kentaro, so let's hope we have a good attendance to cover all our costs,"

Philipp Grothe, the CEO and a founder member of Kentaro, said. "All revenue will end up with us - television rights, sponsorship rights and ticketing - but we have to cover the costs of staging the game ourselves."

Brazil's globe-trotting with Kentaro does not always take them to the most salubrious climes. On Monday they will face Ukraine at Pride Park in Derby, England.

Next month they will be back in the Middle East when they return to Doha, ironically to play their South American neighbours, Argentina.

Plans are also in place to face France in February at the Stade de France, the site of the 1998 World Cup final between the two sides.

"We heard about the interest of Iran, and from a sporting point of view that made sense as they are a good team," Grothe said. "Then ultimately we were looking for a venue. Without too much time, you are looking for a reliable structure.

With the amount of Iranians in the UAE and Abu Dhabi, it was the natural choice."

The UAE FA only received the proposal to stage this evening's fixture nine days ago, after Kentaro's original host venue fell through.

However, the FA were grateful for the opportunity to showcase a match involving two sides with a ready audience in the Emirates. "The game is being run by [Kentaro], and we have just offered to give them logistic help," Yousuf Mohammed Abdullah, the FA secretary general, said.

"As an international game, these are two high-quality teams, Brazil are world class and Iran are always one of the top teams in Asia.

"We think this is a good game to have in Abu Dhabi, especially for our footballers and coaches to see this game. "Everybody likes to watch Brazil play, and there are also a lot of Iranians living in the country, and they should go and support their country in this game."