Skip to main content

FC Barcelona To Play Friendly Match Against Malaysian XI On Aug 10

PETALING JAYA, April 18 (Bernama) -- Spanish premier club Barcelona are sticking to its plan to play a friendly match against a Malaysian XI selection at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Aug 10, which falls on the third day of Hari Raya Aidifitri.

FC Barcelona chief executive officer Antoni Rossich said the date was the most suitable for the Catalan club to hold its pre-season tour matches as most of the club's players were expected to be called up for international duty with their respective countries, soon after.

"During the month of Aug, the transfer window for players will be opened and the European club, including Barcelona, will be busy searching for new players to strengthen the team," he told reporters after the official announcement of the match here, Thursday.

Barcelona in their website had earlier announced that they would play three exhibition matches during their pre-season Asian Tour this Aug, including a match in Shanghai on Aug 3 and Bangkok, Thailand, four days later.

Rossich said they would be fielding their first team during the match against the Malaysian XI Selection on Aug 10.

The match promoter BSC Soccer (M) Sdn Bhd managing director Effendi Jagan Abdullah was confident that the local football fans would come to the stadium in droves to watch the exciting match.

"We are quite optimistic of filling the stadium although the date will clash with the festive season. With good marketing strategies, we can draw a large crowd," he said.

Ticket sales for the match go on sale starting today and tickets are priced at RM668 for VIP seating while normal seating tickets range from RM98 to RM388 and available at locations like One Utama shopping mall, Suria KLCC, Midvalley shopping mall, The Curve and Subang Parade.

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah who was also present at the launch said national players should fully utilise the match to hone their skills, besides gaining valuable exposure by playing with the star-studded team.

"This is the first time a Spanish club is setting foot on our home turf...so I hope our boys, especially young players can gain good exposure through this match," he said.

Tengku Abdullah also revealed that FAM had proposed to send the national futsal team to undergo training stint at the Spanish club, soon.

-- BERNAMA

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...