A Celtic team have been invited to face European royalty in Bayern Munich’s Legends Cup.
The indoor tournament, which takes place in Munich, brings together legends teams of six European giants in one arena.
Along with Celtic and Bayern, also participating are Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Eintracht Frankfurt.
The tournament follows the success of the similar Beckenbauer Cup hosted by Bayern in March. This attracted 9,500 spectators, as the hosts claimed the trophy.
And whilst the Celts wouldn’t stand much chance if this was a tournament for current squads, anything can happen when it’s legends involved.
Celtic invited to prestigious tournament by Bayern Munich
Legendary Bayern trio Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Phillip Lahm will headline their team at the tournament, with the latter being named as the team’s coach for the tournament.
In the previous edition, Bayern won 4-0 in the final against a Real Madrid team which included Iker Casillas and Pepe.
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The tournament will take place on January 18th at the SAP Arena in Munich.
In attempt to recreate the feel of retro indoor tournaments, it will be played on an artificial turf with LED boards.
The rules are notable too – one ‘special’ rule limits attacking time in the last minute of play, similar to what we see in basketball.
It will begin with two groups of three, with teams playing each other in ten-minute long games. The bottom team in each group will then be eliminated.
The remaining four sides then contest the semi-finals, in which half lengths are extended to six minutes.
With 9,500 spectators and a host of ex-superstars taking part, it certainly beats Masters Football at Braehead.
So hopefully it will be a star-studded Celtic team that takes part – we can’t have the European embarrassments spreading into indoor exhibition tournaments.
Proceeds from the previous edition were donated to the Franz Beckenbauer Foundation – so it’s all for a good cause.
Celtic are familiar with Bayern Munich
Of course, the current Celtic side came agonisingly close to a stunning win over Bayern in the Champions League in February.
The team’s fall-off since then is quite stunning. Goalscorer Nicolas Kuhn and manager Brendan Rodgers are both now gone.
In fairness, Martin O’Neill’s fantastic interim spell has reinstated some much-needed confidence in the team, so things could be on the up again.
That’s as long as Wilfried Nancy can keep the side’s momentum going through a tough run of opening fixtures.
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