Football match to raise funds for bushfire victims
An exhibition match to raise funds for the victims of the Australian bushfires will be held on 23 May, it has been confirmed.
Organised by prominent football agent Lou Sticca, founder and Managing Director of Tribal Sports Group, the match will be held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium, with tickets to go on sale from Monday 12 January.
"We've put together a plan and we're rolling it out at the moment which is to invite 30-odd international players from different corners of the globe to come out on the 23rd and play an exhibition game," Sticca told RSN Breakfast Club. "Most of the players will be players that are famous or have played for famous clubs.
"The strategy's very simple. Pack the house out and try to raise as much money and hand over a whopping big check to these brave people that are fighting these fires and saving our communities."
Sticca, a central figure in the deal to bring Italian marquee Alessandro del Piero to the A-League, outlined his work in putting together two squads worth of players for the match.
"What I've been doing over the last four or five days is contacting people that I've accumulated over the last couple of decades at club level, and their management, and basically inviting them to come out," he said. "Really there's not much to say because anyone that's got a TV would know what's going on in Australia.
"Anyone that's on social media, for instance. I've been following a lot of sports people from all codes and in my code, soccer, a lot of ex-players, a lot of current players, managers, media celebrities have all been taken aback by the tragedies that have befallen our country and it hasn't been that hard a sell to invite them over."
Sticca confirmed the timing of the game would make it all-but impossible for the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to take part.
"Quite simply their leagues finish the week before and I think both those players would want to be in Istanbul the week after for the final of the Champions League and you've also got FA Cup.
The agent remained confident of attracting a strong line-up for a match he hopes will resonate around the world.
"So look, a lot of the current day players are going to be ruled out. But there are so many different celebrities. There are players ... who would still have massive followings so I think we're going to have a lot of really famous people and I think their communities that are represented here will be really excited by it and their communities back home in their individual countries will follow it.
"I think it's a big event in Australia but it's also a big event on the global stage as well."