The 2007 finals of the Manchester United Premier Cup, the Nike-backed world U-15 boy's tournament, has been transfered from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Manchester in England. The announcement follow's Manchester United FC's cancellation of its commercial game against a Malaysia XI that was mistakenly scheduled for 27 July during the AFC Asian Cup 2007 which is being co-hosted by Malaysia.
“The sanction we had been granted for the MUPC World Finals by the Football Association of Malaysia was conditional on United successfully concluding their negotiations with the FAM and the Asian Football Confederation," Emma Savage, Global Sports Marketing Manager at Nike UK told Gemma Thompson of MU. “The only way that we can guarantee, at such short notice, the successful execution of the rournament is to bring it back to Manchester. Of course we are very disappointed not to be able see through the commitment to take the MUPC to Asia this summer, but we have every confidence that the 2007 MUPC World Finals will still be an exceptional tournament and experience for the 20 teams involved.“
Teams already qualified to join host team Manchester United inthe final 20 include Central United (New Zealand), Austria Wien (Austria), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Colo Colo (Chile), Shan Dong Luneng FC (China) Hertha Bsc (Germany), AS Roma (Italy), Gamba Osaka (Japan) Krylia Sovetov SOK (Russia), FC Barcelona (Spain), FC Basel (Switzerland) Everton (UK) and Valley United SC Blast (USA). National and Regional Qualification tournaments continue for the six remaining places until mid-June.
“The sanction we had been granted for the MUPC World Finals by the Football Association of Malaysia was conditional on United successfully concluding their negotiations with the FAM and the Asian Football Confederation," Emma Savage, Global Sports Marketing Manager at Nike UK told Gemma Thompson of MU. “The only way that we can guarantee, at such short notice, the successful execution of the rournament is to bring it back to Manchester. Of course we are very disappointed not to be able see through the commitment to take the MUPC to Asia this summer, but we have every confidence that the 2007 MUPC World Finals will still be an exceptional tournament and experience for the 20 teams involved.“
Teams already qualified to join host team Manchester United inthe final 20 include Central United (New Zealand), Austria Wien (Austria), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Colo Colo (Chile), Shan Dong Luneng FC (China) Hertha Bsc (Germany), AS Roma (Italy), Gamba Osaka (Japan) Krylia Sovetov SOK (Russia), FC Barcelona (Spain), FC Basel (Switzerland) Everton (UK) and Valley United SC Blast (USA). National and Regional Qualification tournaments continue for the six remaining places until mid-June.