A new seven-on-seven women’s soccer tournament featuring European club teams vying for a US$5 million purse was to begin in Portugal after press time last night.
The tournament has an eight-team field, including Manchester City and Bayern Munich, playing in what organizers have called fast and high-scoring matches.
Matches are to be played through Saturday at Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota in Estoril ahead of the Women’s Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona on Sunday in Lisbon.
The tournament was cofounded by Jennifer Mackesy, who has an ownership stake in Gotham and Chelsea, and entrepreneur Justin Fishkin.
The eight European teams — Ajax, Bayern Munich, SL Benfica, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, AS Roma and Rosengard — are separated into two groups of four playing in a round-robin format.
The top two teams in each group are to advance to the semi-finals, followed by a third-place match and the final on Saturday.
The games are just 30 minutes long, with two 15-minute halves, and played on a smaller pitch. There are unlimited rolling substitutions and no offsides.
In the event of a draw, the sides will be reduced to five players each with a Golden Goal rule.
“It’s fast, it’s going to be a fast game and physically really tough, the two 15-minute halves, so there’s going to be a lot of rotation of players and roll-on roll-off subs,” Manchester City interim coach Nick Cushing said. “I think it’s going to be a really exciting form of the game.”
The tournament is not sanctioned by either UEFA or FIFA.
The winners are to receive US$2.5 million, while the runners-up get US$1 million and the third and fourth-placed teams split the rest.
The other teams are to receive a participation fee.
“We put the decision on competing at the tournament to the players several weeks ago and are pleased they want to take part. We’ll travel to Portugal with the whole team, but not everyone will play,” said Bianca Rech, director of women’s soccer for Bayern Munich. “Some will continue their recovery from injury there, while some players who are going to be competing at the Euros will train separately to prepare for the international games coming up.”
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