Elite Players Group Announces Over-35 World Cup

Plans are in place to launch an eight-team tournament involving England, Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Uruguay - the past champions of the FIFA World Cup. The competition is organized by the Elite Players Group (EPG) and will be known as the EPG Cup, with only players who are aged 35 or over and have been capped by their country or made 100 top-flight appearances being eligible to participate. The captains of each country are founders of the EPG, and the provisional squads include former Ballon d'Or winners such as England’s Michael Owen, Brazilian trio Kaka, Ronaldinho, and Rivaldo, and Fabio Cannavaro of Italy. Seven matches are scheduled to be staged in the same stadium over one week at the start of June, with talks having taken place with some of the Premier League’s biggest northern clubs for the venue. The games will be 11-a-side but over 70 minutes and with rolling substitutes.