19 Jan 2019
Doha, 19 January 2019. Aspire Academy is set to host “The Match Premier Cup” tournament featuring four leading Russian football clubs and will run from 21- 29 January 2019. The crème de la crème of Russian football clubs, Zenit St. Petersburg, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow and Rostov will descend on Qatar for football extravaganza.
"The ‘Match Premier’ Cup which will be overseen by Russian Premier Liga and will be the main event of Russian football in 2019. It is going to receive extensive media coverage including live broadcasting in Russia on Match TV and Match Premier channels.
The football fans in Qatar will be able to watch some of the players who played in the recent World Cup in Russia and the four teams will feature international stars from all over the world. 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). There is also 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 show-case 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). From the Serbian national team there is defender, Branislav Ivanovic (Zenit) while Polish international midfielder Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow) will be playing in the tournament too alongside Croatian defender and finalist in the 2018 World Cup, Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow).
Tournament Schedule
21 January 20:00 : Spartak Moscow vs Rostov
22 January 20:00 : Zenit vs Lokomotiv Moscow
25 January 18:30 : Zenit vs Spartak Moscow
25 January 21:30 : Rostov vs Lokomotiv Moscow
28 January 20:00 : Rostov vs Zenit
29 January 20:00 : Spartak Moscow vs Lokomotiv Moscow