Dubai: An evening with Ronaldo or Rooney, followed by a late night coffee with Messi? I know that sounds like a dream, but it’s what the football fans in the UAE have in store come this Ramadan.

It sounds like a rare occurrence of a constellation of stars crossing each others’ paths, but made possible by the fact that a good two weeks of the Copa Centenario – set to begin on Friday – is going to clash with Euro 2016, which begins exactly a week later. The depth of field is going to give you the flavour of nothing less than a World Cup, but the football fans will certainly not be complaining.

While both the continental showpieces Copa America and European Championship are quadrennial affairs and do not clash, Copa is celebrating the centenary of the tournament’s existence with a special edition in the US from June 3-26. The Euro, in a bigger avatar this time with 24 teams, will be held in France from June 10-July 10.

Realistically speaking, it may not have been welcome news for the top drawer footballers who have just come out of a long and bruising club season – as some of them also have commitments to the Rio Olympics in two months’ time.

Spanish giants Barcelona had, in a bid to prevent burnout, given their star Brazilian campaigner Neymar the option of participating in either the Copa or Olympics – and he has opted for the latter.

It would, however, be foolhardy to think that the button-holing of Copa into the season will dilute the fierce competitive flavour of this tournament, which often veers towards the eye-for-an-eye rule.

There are certain traditional rivalries in that part of the world, Brazil versus Argentina being the biggest of them all, and the Latin American style holds a special charm in the Arab world as well as in pockets of Asia.

The modern football buff is of course more exposed to the best talents of South America strutting their stuff in European club football – day in and day out. The all-conquering MSN trio of Barcelona (Messi-Suarez-Neymar) is the biggest example, while the list goes on and on with Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Angel de Maria or Edinson Cavani.

They are, in fact, jewels in the crown of European club football today – making one wonder about them retaining the same intensity when they pull on their national team shirts. However a team honour like the World Cup, or at least a Copa, is still such a benchmark of greatness that it keeps the biggest dilemma alive over the acceptance of someone like Messi in the same bracket as Pele and Maradona.

It’s also an excellent platform for the wannabe star, say from Colombia or Mexico, to make his mark and grab the eyeballs of European scouts.

All said and done, it’s now a problem of plenty for the fans.