Football’s biggest stars to play here?

SINGAPORE — The National Stadium could soon be hosting the biggest-ever football tournament in Singapore’s history, with the likes of football superstars Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic showing off their silky skills on the 55,000-seater facility’s pitch.

TODAY understands the Singapore Sports Hub and various parties are in talks to bring the International Champions Cup (ICC) to the S$1.33 billion venue in the middle of this year.

The premier club exhibition football tournament, which started in 2013, sees championship-winning teams from the English, Spanish and Italian leagues competing in host cities worldwide during the pre-season. Last year’s ICC travelled to 19 host cities across seven countries, drawing participation from top European club sides such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

While details of the teams and dates for 2017 edition have not been finalised, Real — the 11-time European champions and winner of 32 La Liga titles — have confirmed their participation in Miami for the season, with the city of Orlando also set to host the tournament for 2017 and 2018.

The move to bring in the popular ICC will certainly help beef up the Sports Hub’s 2017 calendar of events, which currently only lists the HSBC World Rugby Singapore Sevens, Super Rugby’s Sunwolves and WTA Finals Singapore as key sporting highlights for the year.

It could also go some way to appeasing unhappy National Stadium suite owners, as The Straits Times reported last December that some of them are unlikely to renew their membership contracts with the Singapore Sports Hub this year, as they are unhappy with the lack of world-class events at the stadium.

Singapore Sports Hub CEO Manu Sawhney had said in media interviews last November that top football teams could feature here in 2017, and die-hard supporters will be keeping their fingers crossed that they will see the ICC in Singapore.

Responding to queries from TODAY, Mr Chin Sau Ho, senior director, corporate communications and stakeholder management, Singapore Sports Hub said: “The Singapore Sports Hub is in constant discussions with a variety of event owners and promoters to identify, secure and present a variety of genres and types of events that add to the vibrancy of the Sports Hub, as well as Singapore’s sporting landscape.”

Added Ms Jean Ng, director, Sports, Singapore Tourism Board: “We welcome events that add vibrancy to our sporting landscape while building on Singapore’s reputation as a lifestyle leisure destination and reaping strong benefits to both locals and tourists.”

The deal — if inked — will be a welcome relief for local fans starved of top-flight football action here. The last time the National Stadium hosted a world-class football event was the Barclays Asia Trophy featuring Arsenal, Everton and Stoke City in July 2015. Apart from that, fans have had to contend with events such as the Causeway Challenge between Singapore and Malaysia, and World Cup qualifiers against Syria.

“It’s definitely exciting to hear about the ICC, as you do get big clubs coming down for this tournament,” said university undergraduate Kevin Varghese Tomy, 22. “I have definitely missed seeing the teams in town. I’ll be happy to watch any of the big English Premier League teams.”

Added Liverpool fan Nilesh Pritam, 41, a communications professional: “It’s definitely nice to have teams come out here ... but I’m also going in with my eyes open as a lot of this is for marketing purposes and making money.”

Started three years ago by Relevent Sports — which was founded by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and former New York Jets executive Matt Higgins — the first ICC kicked off in the United States and Spain with eight participating teams: Los Angeles Galaxy, Real, Valencia, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Chelsea and Everton.

The fourth edition from July 22 to Aug 13, 2016, was its biggest-ever, featuring 17 teams from two confederations competing in Australia, China, the United States and Europe.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground hosted Melbourne Victory, Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus and Atletico Madrid, while three Chinese cities — Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai — welcomed Man United, Man City and Borussia Dortmund.

The US and European legs saw the biggest roster of teams, with English Premier League giants Chelsea, Leicester City, and Liverpool featuring alongside Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Inter, Milan, Celtic, Barcelona and Real.

While the 2016 edition was a hit with football fans — attracting close to 800,000 attendees and 70 million global television viewers — the much-anticipated Beijing fixture between Manchester rivals United and City was washed out. The match at the Bird’s Nest Stadium was cancelled after torrential rain left the pitch in an unplayable condition.