Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Pre-Season Football: The Amsterdam Tournament 2009

The end is in sight for those of you who are sick of watching International football (soccer) with some great pre-season tournaments around the corner.
The Amsterdam Tournament 2009
The Amsterdam Tournament has always been one of my favourite pre-season tournaments and it kicks off next month with the likes of Benfica, Atletico Madrid and Sunderland taking on the hosts Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena.

The Tournament was started in 1975 to celebrate 700 years of the city of Amsterdam's history and it involves four teams, one of which is always the host Ajax Amsterdam. Teams such as Inter Milan, Arsenal, Manchester United, Barcelona and River plate has competed at the tournament in recent years and this year the guests include Portuguese side Benfica, English Premier League’s Sunderland and la Liga’s Atletico de Madrid.

The tournament takes place over a three day period, with the second day being a resting day for the teams. What I really like about the tournament is the point scoring system. Besides the usual three points for a win, one for a draw system, each team is also awarded a point for every goal scored; this is to encourage teams to play attacking football.

The draw for the Tournament was conducted today and this is how the four teams will line-up against each other:

Day 1 - Friday 24th July
7pm: Sunderland vs Benfica.
9.15pm: Ajax vs Atletico Madrid.

Day 2 - Sunday 26th July
7pm: Sunderland vs Atletico Madrid.
9.15pm: Ajax vs Benfica.
*UK Time

There you have it, just over a month away from seeing club footy again…

4 comments:

  1. How can you get tickets??? Nothing on the SAFC Website.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi,
    World Ticket Shop seems to have them. Check out the prices here:
    http://www.worldticketshop.com/tickets/atletico_madrid_tickets/23421_atletico_madrid-sunderland

    ReplyDelete
  3. will any of theses matches be shown on tv? if so what channel? thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting read thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete