Falcao’s Chennai face Giggs’ Mumbai in Premier Futsal opener

Chennai, July 14 (IANS) Alessandro Rosa Vieira, commonly known as Falcao of Chennai 5’s will face off against Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs’ Mumbai 5’s in the opening match of the inaugural season of Premier Futsal at the Jawarhalal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

Premier Futsal, the world’s first multi-national league will see the second game of the opening day between Brazil football star Ronaldinho’s Goa 5’s taking on Argentina legend Hernan Crespo’s Kolkata 5’s.

The opening ceremony will see a performance from musical maestro A.R Rahman, who produced and sang the official anthem of the league.

International Futsal Freestyler’s led by Sean Garnier will also showcase their skills and give the audience a glimpse of what to expect from the first edition of Premier Futsal.

The first edition of the league will see six franchises (Kolkata 5’s, Chennai 5’s, Goa 5’s, Mumbai 5’s, Bengaluru 5’s and Kochi 5’s) divided in two groups to battle it out over eight match days and 13 matches to make it to the finals which will be played in Goa on July 24. Each franchise was assigned a marquee international football player, seven international and five Indian futsallers.

The list of marquee players featured are former World Player of the Year -- Ronaldinho, Manchester United stalwarts - Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, ex-Chelsea and Inter-Milan forward Hernan Crespo, former Galactico Michel Salgado, and ‘Pele of Futsal’, Alessandro Rosa Viera, Falcao.

“It’s still early days, but we are extremely delighted to be able to present International legends of this stature to Indian audience through Premier Futsal. As the primary investor of this league, I have always had full-faith in sport’s potential and can’t wait for it to start tomorrow,” Xavier Britto, Premier Futsal chairman and promoter said.