A brand-new football competition called the Over-35s Football World Cup is set to take place in England this summer, check out all the details of the event below along with the teams and players
The Elite Players Group (EPG), a group of elite former football players and sports entrepreneurs, are the organizers behind the competition.
Over-35s Football World Cup 2024 schedule, date, teams list, players, format and venue details
🚨 New over-35s World Cup is being held in England this summer with some absolute legends taking part. pic.twitter.com/ww6EQNtZZ4
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) February 5, 2024
A new over-35s World Cup competition is set to be held in England this summer.
The tournament, which is being organised by the Elite Players.
Will be known as the EPG Cup
The eight World Cup winning nations will face off against each other in June this year. pic.twitter.com/Z06jhKb114— MILENGE (@JoshuaAbaasa) February 6, 2024
The upcoming football tournament will be called the EPG Cup, named after its organizers.
Over-35s World Cup format and dates
For the upcoming competition, teams are allowed to deploy roll-on substitutions, which will allow them to make use of their 18-man rosters during the game. Each game will be 70 minutes long and feature 11 players on each side. The tournament begins with the quarterfinals on June 4 and 5, followed by the two semi-finals on June 8. Finally, the final match will take place on June 11.
Over-35s World Cup venue
As of now, the organizers have not announced the venue for the upcoming tournament. However, all seven matches are set to take place at the same stadium by the start of June. Notably, there are rumours that the organizers have had discussions with several northern clubs.
Over-35s World Cup teams and captains
Every country that has won the FIFA World Cup ever since it began back in 1930 will compete in the tournament. As such, there will be eight different teams in the tournament. The eight teams and their captains are:
- England (Steve McManaman)
- Argentina (Esteban Cambiasso)
- Brazil (Emerson)
- France (Christian Karembeu)
- Germany (Kevin Kuranyi)
- Italy (Marco Materazzi)
- Spain (Michel Salgado)
- Uruguay (Diego Lugano)
Over-35s World Cup players
Given below are the criteria for the tournament’s participants:
- Only players who are over 35 years old
- Players must have earned 100 appearances in the highest divisions
- Players must have received caps for their nation
Fans can expect a huge number of top football personalities to compete in the tournament. Although the teams have not confirmed their final list of players, fans can expect to see some top players. Fans can expect England to field a team filled with several Premier League icons, including the 2001 Ballon d’Or winner Michael Owen, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, David James, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, and Robbie Fowler. Aside from them, Brazil could arguably be the strongest team, with three past Ballon d’Or winners, Kaka, Ronaldinho, and Rivaldo, alongside Cafu and Roberto Carlos, all expected to take part. France could feature Thierry Henry alongside former AC Milan and Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly.
Meanwhile, Germany could most likely field Mesut Ozil and fellow 2014 World Cup champion Sami Khedira. On the other hand, players like Hernan Crespo and Pablo Zabaleta could play for Argentina.