(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Armstrong Vas I The Peninsula
Four Russian Premier League clubs - Zenit St. Petersburg, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow and Rostov - will be vying for the Match Premier Cup and a purse of $200m at Doha's Aspire Academy grounds starting today.
The crème de la crème of Russian football will have an opportunity to play against each other once at this week's football extravaganza in the six-match tournament. The tournament ends on January 29 .
Spartak Moscow will take on Rostov in the opening match at Aspire Academy Pitch No. 5, which will kick off at 8.00pm today. The other matches will be played tomorrow, January 25, 28 and 29.
The ‘Match Premier' Cup is organised by Match TV and the Russian Premier League, and will be held in conjunction with the Qatar Football Association and Aspire Zone Foundation.
Match Premier Cup is one of the main event of the Russian football season and will be extensively covered by the Russian media, according to the orgnaisers.
Fans in Qatar will be able to watch international players who played in the 2018 World Cup in Russia during the tournament.
The largest number of internationals will be from Russia and include midfielders, Aleksandr Erokhin, Yuri Zhirkov, Daler Kuzyaev (all Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Zobnin, Alexsandr Samedov (both Spartak Moscow), Anton Miranchuk and striker Fyodor Smolov (Lokomotiv Moscow), and goalkeeper Andrey Lunev (Zenit St Petersburg). All these players were part of the Russia 2018 World Cup squad that reached the quarter-finals on home soil.
The other stars who will be in action at Aspire Academy to showcase their talents are Portuguese international midfielder Manuel Fernandes (Lokomotiv) and Peru international winger Jefferson Farfan (Lokomotiv Moscow).
Icelandic defenders Sverrir Ingi Ingason (Rostov), Ragnar Sigurdsson (Rostov), and striker, Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdsson (Rostov) will also be seen in action. There is also Serbian national team defender Branislav Ivanovic (Zenit), Polish international midfielder Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow), Croatian defender and finalist in the 2018 World Cup, Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow).
Football fans in Qatar keen to attend the tournament at free entry are encouraged to do so by registering at the following link: https://matchpremier.timepad.ru/event/882149/
Qatar has been a great destination for European clubs during mid-season breaks thanks to its' modern and high tech infrastructure and comfortable weather during winter season.
The list of teams that have made use of Aspire Academy's finest facilities includes Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Paris St. Germain, Barcelona, Zenith St Petersburg, Brugge FC, KAS Eupen and several other Asian and European top football clubs.
This month Iceland, Sweden, Estonia and Finland national men's football team were also in Qatar and played a couple of friendlies at the Khalifa International Stadium, one of the venue of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The women's football teams are not far behind and England women's team also had their training camp in Qatar in preparation for the World Cup tournament.
Qatar won the right to host the matches of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on December 2, 2010.
FIFA officially announced in March 2015, that the 22nd edition of FIFA's flagship event would be played in November and December 2022, with the final match occurring on December 18, 2022 - Qatar National Day.
Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November 21 and December 18 at eight venues across the country.
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