Bayern-Benfica tie icing on the cake

Dubai: Football fans in the city are in for a treat when four giant European clubs compete in the $2million Mohammad Bin Rashid International Football Championship, which kicks off today at the Al Ahli club.

The tournament, organised by National Bonds, will feature Bayern Munich (Germany), Marseille (France), Benfica (Portugal ) and Lazio (Italy) and will be held on a knock-out format. In today's opening games, Marseille meets Lazio at 5:45 pm while Bayern Munich take on Benfica at 8:45 pm.

The winners will meet in the final at 8:45 pm on Wednesday and the losers will play for third place trophy at 5:45.

Bayern Munich and Lazio arrived in Dubai two days ago and have been training at the Al Ahli club. Benfica and Marseille were expected to arrive last night. Naser Bin Hasan Al Shaikh, Deputy board chairman of Dubai National Bonds, said they are planning to organise the tournament every year in January.

"It's the first sports activity to be organised by our corporation and we are keen to achieve success from the start," he said.

He revealed that they attempted to bring Spanish club Real Madrid and Juventus from Italy to take part in the inaugural edition, but they turned down the offer due to busy domestic schedules.

"We have discussed with the manager of Inter Milan, who visited Dubai, to secure their participation in future events."

Al Shaikh also said that they turned down an offer from Brazilian club Santos 'due to prohibitive financial demands.'

Gifted Iranian Ali Karimi, who is a member of Bayern Munich, said he was delighted to return to Dubai where he played for several years before.

SCHEDULE
Today: 5:45 pm Marseille v Lazio. 8:45 pm: Bayern Munich v Benfica.
Wednesday
5:45 pm: Third place play off.
8:45 pm: Final.
All the matches at Rashid Stadium at the Al Ahli Club.