Kozhikode : The prestigious Nagjee International Club Football Tournament is all set to kick off from tomorrow . Youth side of Premier League club Watford FC and Brazilain club Atletico Paranaense will lock horns in the first match. Watford is managed by former Liverpool and Australian player Hary Kewell while Atletico Paranaense is managed by Cristavoe Borges. Hary has played for some big clubs including Liverpool. The opening match is expected to be an exciting match. Indian footballer Romeo Fernandes had a brief stint with the Brazilian club.
The main attraction of this tournament would be the Argentina U-23 side. Eight teams will be participating in the tournament . Other teams including FC Dnipro of Ukraine, Shamrock Rovers of Ireland,TSV I860 Munchen of Germany, FC Volyn Lutsk of Ukraine, Rapid Bucharest of Romania and Atletico Paranaense of Brazil are also participating .
The semifinals are scheduled to be held on 18th February and 19th February with the final is slated to be held on 21st February. The teams received a very warm welcome at the airport. The ticket booking has already started and the organizers are hopeful of a sellout crowd for each match .
Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho had earlier inaugurated the tournament .The former Barcelona player is also the Brand Ambassador of the tournament.
The matches will be played at Kozhikode EMS stadium. The stadium which has a capacity of 53000 people and was recently rennovated. It has state of the art facilities including a VVIP lounge that can host up to 200 peoples.
Sait Nagjee was a very prestigious tournament which started in 1952. The Kozhikode District Football Association is hosting the tournament. Since 1995 the Tournament did not take place due to some unknown reasons. JCT won the tournament last time in 1995 defeating Dempo.