Dubai: The Fourth Under-13 Dubai Intercontinental Football Cup featuring teams from Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Celta Vigo, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Inter Milan and FC Porto will get under way at Dubai Sports City from Thursday.
Organised under the aegis of Dubai Sports Council, the three-day tournament will also feature four UAE teams — Al Nasr, Al Wasl and Shabab Al Ahli Dubai and Abu Dhabi’s Al Wahda — alongside Zamalek (Egypt), Pyramids (Egypt), Zed FC (Egypt), Al Fateh (Saudi Arabia), Al Ahli FC (Saudi Arabia), Levante Azzurro (Italy), Muscat Football Academy (Oman), Jef United (Japan), Maldives FA, Wakatake (Japan), CAF Canada, and two teams representing Spanish Soccer School (UAE).
The 24 teams have been divided into six groups of four each, and the top two teams from each group will progress to the Round of 16 along with the four best third-placed teams. The eight winners of Round of 16 match will then advance to the Gold Cup and the eight losers will play for the Silver Cup.
Inter Milan and FC Porto have been drawn in Group A, alongside Al Nasr and Wakatake FC of Japan, and the Italians will take on the Dubai club in the opening match at 9.30am, on February 13. Two other matches will take place concurrently on adjacent pitches, with Porto taking on Wakatake FC, and Group B’s Levante Azzurro squaring off against Zed FC.
All teams will place twice on the opening day, with the evening session starting at 4pm. On Friday, the teams will play their final group matches in the morning session before returning in the evening for the Round of 16 knockout matches.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of the Gold Cup and Silver Cup will take place on Saturday.
