MELBOURNE: European champions Real Madrid will play exhibition matches with an English Premier League side and a Serie A club in the International Champions Cup Australia tournament at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground next year, organisers said on Monday.

The teams will play each other in three fixtures at the 100,000-seat MCG from July 18-24 when the International Champions Cup, a series of pre-season matches involving top European clubs, expands to including an Asia-Pacific tournament running in conjunction with the established US competition and next year will feature eight teams.

The 2014 edition was played across 13 cities in North America, with a US record 109,318 fans attending the group game between Real Madrid and Manchester United at Michigan Stadium in August. Manchester United won that match and later beat Liverpool in the final.

The other teams will be named in coming weeks.

Manchester City, who own Melbourne City in Australia’s top-flight A-League, are expected to participate. Local media have speculated Inter Milan will be the third.

With the securing of Real’s huge box-office appeal, organisers are hoping to build on the local appetite for top European clubs after a 95,000 crowd watched English Premier League Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Australia’s Melbourne Victory at the MCG last year.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez among others, were named FIFA’s Club of the 20th Century and are worth an estimated 500 million euros ($618 million).

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014