World Soccer Stars matches postponed

KARACHI: As had been expected the World Soccer Stars 2019 was postponed on Tuesday. The organisers said they would announce the new dates after Ramadan. “World Soccer Stars tour has taken a strategic decision based on financial reasons with utmost regret to postpone the World Soccer Stars 2019 Pakistan tour featuring Ricardo Kaka, Luis Figo, Carles Puyol, Nicholas Anelka and International artiste AKON,” the organisers said in a press release on Tuesday.

“The decision to postpone the event has not been taken lightly, given the enthusiasm of the Pakistan football fans when the players visited the country to launch the tour during the first few months of 2019. The excitement of the fans was genuine and was truly heartfelt by the players and has only served to motivate us to conduct the tour later in 2019. The interest shown by brands, the media, the army and national and local government was appreciated,” the release said.

“After a review of the situation we took this overarching strategic decision taking into account several factors, including the change in the local business economy since the tour was announced, the wish of certain key brands to align the tour with their commercial plans, and so we decided to postpone the tour with dates to be announced after Eid-ul-Fitr,” the organisers said.

They added that tickets would be refunded. “For fans who have purchased tickets these will be refunded and you will be notified as a priority customer as soon as we announce the new dates,” they said.

“World Soccer Stars is a tour that remains committed to promoting the development of football in Pakistan, as was shown by the Mall events in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, and the PSL final appearance. The recent national trials held in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta and Lahore in association with Total Football proved the appetite for such a tour. The regional winners from these trials will take part in the the national finals later in the year, the winners gaining the opportunity to play with the international legends at the World Soccer Stars event,” the organisers said. In the World Soccer Stars, a couple of football matches, carrying global stars, had been planned to be held in Karachi and Lahore on April 27 and April 28, respectively.