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| French side Auxerre arriving at Doha Airport |
Four of the teams set to compete in the third edition of Al Kass International Cup touched down at Doha International Airport today ahead of the tournament, which begins on Monday at the Aspire Academy football fields.
This evening saw the arrivals of France’s Paris Saint-Germain and Auxerre together with Spain’s Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, who will all take to the pitch on Monday.
The remaining teams will arrive in the days ahead to complete the 12 squad line-up.
The tournament begins with last year’s runners up, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), taking on FC Barcelona at 16.15 on Monday.
The second match sees Qatar’s Aspire International play Real Madrid at 18.20, before last year’s champions, Fluminense of Brazil, come up against French newcomers Auxerre at 20.25.
Both of Aspire Academy’s under-16 teams will once more face their international counterparts including Real Madrid, PSG, FC Barcelona and Brazil’s Fluminense.
This year Chicago Fire will be the first American team to compete in the event, while other newcomers include Manchester City (England), FC Porto (Portugal), AC Milan (Italy), Auxerre (France), and Kashiwa Reysol (Japan).
The teams will be divided into four groups of three, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals to compete for the Al Kass trophy.
The tournament, which is free to access for public and runs from January 13 to 23, was established by Al Kass in partnership with Aspire Zone Foundation and the Qatar Football Association to represent the future of football. The intention is to showcase tomorrow’s football stars and contribute to the development of Qatar as a proud footballing nation.