Sports / Local
4 buses hired to ferry fans to Benjani testimonial
21 May 2012 at 06:38hrs | Views
BULAWAYO soccer fans have been given a rare opportunity to watch some of the world's biggest soccer stars in action during the Benjani Mwaruwari Testimonial match at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday following revelations that four buses will be availed from the city to the capital.
This was revealed by Mwaruwari in an interview at White City Stadium where he was part of the crowd that watched his sponsored Under-16 soccer tournament.
"The organisers are busy working on that but a colleague from Harare has offered us three or four buses to ferry fans from Bulawayo who would want to watch the match. Everything should be in place by Wednesday," said Mwaruwari.
A total of 26 stars have confirmed that they will play in the testimonial match, among them Barclays Premiership winner Kolo Toure, Arsenal's Alex Song and Nigerian legend Austin "Jay Jay" Okocha.
"While I would have wanted to bring these guys to my home town, their programme is so tight, some of them are already in camp for the World Cup qualifiers so you will understand how busy their schedule is. They will probably fly out of the country immediately after the match on Sunday," said Mwaruwari who was sporting a designer suit and shoes.
The cheapest ticket for the rest of the ground will cost $5 while tickets for Bays 15 and 18 will cost $10. Bay 17 will cost $20 and the VIP section is by invitation only. Bay 16 has been reserved for corporate organisations.
Meanwhile, Southern Region former players missed out on an opportunity to fine-tune their preparations ahead of their match against their Northern Region counterparts after the much talked about warm up match against Chronicle failed to take off due to the tight schedule of the programme.
The match was supposed to curtain-raise yesterday's final at White City Stadium.
Confirmed players:
Alex Song (Cameroon and Arsenal), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo and Tottenham), Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast and Manchester City), Christopher Samba (Congo and Anzhi), Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast and Galatasaray), John Mensah (Ghana and Lyon), John Utaka ( Nigeria and Montpellier), Pascal Chimbonda (France and Doncaster Rovers), Khalilou Fadiga (Senegal), John Pantsil (Ghana and Leicester City), Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Nigeria & Blackburn Rovers), Dickson Etuhu (Nigeria & Fulham), Stephen Appiah (Ghana and FK Vojvodina), Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland and Udinese), Aaron Mokoena (South Africa and Portsmouth), Steven Pienaar (South Africa and Everton), Lucas Radebe (South Africa), Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria and Portsmouth), Christopher Kanu (Nigeria) Dennis Oliech (Kenya and Auxerre), El Hadji Diouf (Senegal and Doncaster), Samuel Kuffour (Ghana), Jay Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria), Abdul Razak (Ivory Coast), Richard Kingson (Ghana)
This was revealed by Mwaruwari in an interview at White City Stadium where he was part of the crowd that watched his sponsored Under-16 soccer tournament.
"The organisers are busy working on that but a colleague from Harare has offered us three or four buses to ferry fans from Bulawayo who would want to watch the match. Everything should be in place by Wednesday," said Mwaruwari.
A total of 26 stars have confirmed that they will play in the testimonial match, among them Barclays Premiership winner Kolo Toure, Arsenal's Alex Song and Nigerian legend Austin "Jay Jay" Okocha.
"While I would have wanted to bring these guys to my home town, their programme is so tight, some of them are already in camp for the World Cup qualifiers so you will understand how busy their schedule is. They will probably fly out of the country immediately after the match on Sunday," said Mwaruwari who was sporting a designer suit and shoes.
The cheapest ticket for the rest of the ground will cost $5 while tickets for Bays 15 and 18 will cost $10. Bay 17 will cost $20 and the VIP section is by invitation only. Bay 16 has been reserved for corporate organisations.
Meanwhile, Southern Region former players missed out on an opportunity to fine-tune their preparations ahead of their match against their Northern Region counterparts after the much talked about warm up match against Chronicle failed to take off due to the tight schedule of the programme.
The match was supposed to curtain-raise yesterday's final at White City Stadium.
Confirmed players:
Alex Song (Cameroon and Arsenal), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo and Tottenham), Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast and Manchester City), Christopher Samba (Congo and Anzhi), Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast and Galatasaray), John Mensah (Ghana and Lyon), John Utaka ( Nigeria and Montpellier), Pascal Chimbonda (France and Doncaster Rovers), Khalilou Fadiga (Senegal), John Pantsil (Ghana and Leicester City), Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Nigeria & Blackburn Rovers), Dickson Etuhu (Nigeria & Fulham), Stephen Appiah (Ghana and FK Vojvodina), Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland and Udinese), Aaron Mokoena (South Africa and Portsmouth), Steven Pienaar (South Africa and Everton), Lucas Radebe (South Africa), Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria and Portsmouth), Christopher Kanu (Nigeria) Dennis Oliech (Kenya and Auxerre), El Hadji Diouf (Senegal and Doncaster), Samuel Kuffour (Ghana), Jay Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria), Abdul Razak (Ivory Coast), Richard Kingson (Ghana)
Source - TC
