LAHORE: Lahore goes into football history books with the visit of Brazilian football star Ronaldinho and a galaxy of former top notch of the game for a football match on July 9 at the Fortress Stadium.
The match is of great significance, being the first ever such high profile football activity to be staged in the provincial capital, involving former superstars and top class football players of the country.
Brazilian football celebrity Ronaldinho will be accompanied by Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning teammate, Roberto Carlos, former French midfielder Robert Pires, France’s Nicolas Anelka, Portugal’s Luis Boa Morte, Holland’s George Boateng, England’s David James and former Manchester United player Ryan Giggs.
The two-match series with the first game scheduled on July 8 at Karachi has been named as “Leisure Leagues Pakistan” and the tour has been arranged by the World Group led by Mahmood Trunkwala.
“It is the first ever football event of our country in which football stalwarts will be showcasing their talent in Karachi and Lahore”, Mehmood told the agency on Wednesday.
“It is a way forward to re-establish Pakistan’s name as a country which is safe to hold top class sports events”, he said.
Leisure Leagues COO Ishaq Shah believes the tour will help in many ways to promote football in Pakistan. “Nobody can believe that world known footballers will be visiting Pakistan but it is going to happen in few days and we will be having football enthusiasm from one part of the country to another.”
“Lahore is a hub of sports activities and new football history will be written with the holding of this match and we expect a large audience to witness the football stars in action,” he asserted. The matches will be played under lights. The foreign footballers will be arriving Islamabad on July 8 morning and from there they will be flying to Karachi before meeting the army chief.
The match will be seven or six a side fixture to be played on July 8 evening at Abdul Sattar Edhi hockey stadium Karachi. Ronaldinho will lead one team and Ryan Giggs will captain the other side and both the teams will be a mix-up of foreign and local players.
Ronaldinho will also be inaugurating a football academy being set up in DHA Lahore.
