Star players revealed to take part in Over 35s World Cup tournament to be held in England

The list of star players have been revealed to take part in this year’s edition of the Over 35s World Cup tournament to be held in England. Yep, that’s right. An Over-35s World Cup will be taking place in England this summer, organised by Elite Players Group with it featuring all eight World Cup winning nations. The much anticipated tournament will consist of seven matches in the same stadium, with Newcastle’s St James’ Park the frontrunner to host it. Quarter-finals are due to take place on the 4th and 5th of June, semi-finals on the 8th of June, and the final on the 11th of June.

Newcastle’s St James’ Park is the frontrunner to host the inaugural Over 35s World Cup in June after organisers held positive talks with the Premier League club and local council https://t.co/ugdWtW3bC4

— Mail Sport (@MailSport) March 1, 2024

A new over-35s World Cup competition is set to be held in England this summer, according to the Daily Mail. The tournament, which is being organised by the Elite Players Group (EPG), comprised of top-level former footballers and sports businessmen, will be known as the EPG Cup. It will be an eight-team competition featuring every side that have won the FIFA World Cup since its inception in 1930: England, Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Uruguay. Mail Sport report that St James’ Park is the front runner to host the inaugural Over 35s World Cup in June with Newcastle tipped to be named as the preferred city to stage all seven games after the competition’s organisers, the Elite Player Group, held positive talks with the Premier League club and local council. Players of course must be aged 35 or over and have been capped by their country or to have made at least 100 appearances in the top flight. The captains have already been named as Steve McManaman (England), Esteban Cambiasso (Argentina), Emerson (Brazil), Christian Karembeu (France), Kevin Kuranyi (Germany), Marco Materazzi (Italy), Michel Salgado (Spain) and Diego Lugano (Uruguay). The full 18-man squads are still to be finalised. But sources claim these are the teams set to compete…

The teams so far

‘We think this will be a milestone in football history,’ Matias Sarasola, the EPG president, told Mail Sport. ‘Never before has one event joined 144 of these kind of former players at the same tournament. It is like the trophy of trophies.’ Sarasola said the EPG held talks with a number of Premier League clubs about hosting the tournament. But according to Mail Sport, they are now in advanced talks with Newcastle, but contracts are yet to be officially signed. ‘England created this sport and we wanted to launch the new category here, too,’ Sarasola added. ‘We would like to have full stadiums, so we will try and do the minimum ticket price possible. We would like to give the opportunity for all the city to go there. We want to make it as inclusive as possible. ‘We will start with this event, but we would like to grow. Tennis and golf have senior or masters categories and that is what we are creating. ‘We want to extend a footballer’s professional life. It is to give them the opportunity to continue competing. ‘The most important thing is all of them want to play for glory. When I have been with former players, they say they want to play again but not just in an exhibition match. They want to play to win.’ Sarasola remains confident that big names will sign up to play and says they have already ‘received a lot of offers’ from TV companies to show matches, which will be 11-a-side but over a period of 70 minutes with rolling substitutes. Ex-Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, who currently in seen on BBC’s Gladiators, has been asked to head up a team of officials and there will be no VAR. We could also see players mic’ed up on the pitch and broadcast live GPS and heart-rate monitor data, as well as using smart footballs. ‘We would like to include all the innovations from around the world to enhance the experience for the audience,’ Sarasola says. Twitter users reacted with star players revealed to take part in the Over 35s World Cup tournament which is to be held in England… @_KyleRC_: So, for the pundits and commentary on this, can we please make it current players? It’d be brilliant watching Ferdinand being assessed by Jack Grealish @23nsg: Has a home nation ever been booed off the park in their first game before? @SteveGrant1983: Michael Owen playing at St James’ Park should be interesting… @Real_Madyid: We need a Zidane vs Materazzi re-match! @BurneyMcr1: The fact 90% of these are World Cup 2006 players is great as I’ve said for ages that’s when football peaked for me! Look at the squads for World Cup 2006. Superb! @ajsteelo: This looks amazing @EFCKyIe: i need this in my life @1SmoothKriminal: So there is hope for Pogba.. @Adam_BKWZ: On this basis Germany would be favourites as they have the most recently retired players. I imagine the squads will certainly fill out though. @ShaunChiefEFC: Take my money, I need to go! @IanWindsor99: Will make a change seeing Michael Owen playing at St James’s. Guaranteed he’ll be fit as it’s England 🤣🤣 @BitterBlue2023: One last chance for that golden generation to let the nation down. Fantastic. @aston_danny: Re-live the classic Nike advert @thoamsrjohnson: Big stage Masters Football? Yeah I’ll watch that @maadak15: Over 35s World Cup you say? I beg we get Mark Noble in the England Squad! 😭⚒️