Indonesia to host world football Legends!

International football legends will visit Indonesia to play against the country's national players in an exhibition match, titled 'Battle of the Stars', at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium here on May 10.


The promoter of the event, Ophan Lamara, said 18 international football legends including Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Pavel Nedved, Edgar Davids and Paolo Maldini, grouped in the Elite Players Group (EPG), will face the Indonesia Stars consisting of recent and former Indonesian top players.

"We are still waiting for the confirmation of three players, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Fabio Cannavaro," Lamara said on Thursday.

Lamara said Zidane was still occupied with Real Madrid, Roberto Carlos was busy with his position as a 2014 World Cup ambassador while Cannavaro was involved as a coach of a football club in Qatar.

Other players who had confirmed to play in the exhibition match are Jens Lehnman, Marco Materazzi, Nakata, Francesco Toldo, Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Rigobert Song, Deco, Fernando Morientes, Gianluca Zambrotta and Hernan Crespo.

"There are 25 prospective Indonesian players. However, only 18 will be chosen to play against the international players. They will be selected through SMS polling," Lamara said.

A few of the Indonesian top players and legends are Bambang Pamungkas, Cristian Gonzales, Ismed Sofyan, Hendro Kartiko, Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, Bima Sakti, Budi Sudarsono, Kurnia Sandy, Bejo Sugiantoro and Rochy Putirai.

During the visit to Indonesia, the world's football legends are also scheduled to organise coaching sessions and meet fans.

The promoter has limited the number of fans in the meet-and-greet session to 200 people. Tickets for the Battle of the Stars will range from Rupiah 100,000 (RM28) to Rupiah 2 million (RM566).

The promoter expects between 40,000 and 50,000 spectators at the stadium during the match.

After the Battle of Stars, Indonesia will also host an exhibition match between the local football team, Persija, and Ajax Amsterdam, a professional football club from the Netherlands on May 11. On the same day, the Indonesian national team will face the Asean All Stars.