Newcastle United’s St James’ Park ‘frontrunners’ to host star-studded World Cup event

St James’ Park is the ‘frontrunner’ to host an Over-35’s World Cup in June later this year. The tournament will feature huge names of former footballers from around the globe with England, Brazil, France, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany and Uruguay all set to take part.

According to the Mail Online, St James’ park is among the candidates to host the inaugural event and stage all seven games of the tournament. The competition will take place on the weekend of June 4 and 5, with semi-finals taking place in the following midweek with the final on June 11 or 12.

The report states that the tournament’s organisers, Elite Player Group, have held discussions with the club and the council to stage the event on Tyneside. The Premier League concluding in May doesn’t mean St James’ Park will be finished hosting football with England’s national team set to host Bosnia and Herzegovina at the stadium on June 3 in preparations for their Euro 2024 campaign.

To be eligible to compete in the Over-35’s World Cup, meanwhile, players will have to have made at least 100 top-flight appearances or been capped by the country they are wanting to represent. Huge names such as Kaka, Ronaldinho, Hernan Crespo, Theirry Henry and Francesco Totti have all been named as participants.

Matches will be 11-a-side but last just 70 minutes each and will be in a straight knockout format over the week the tournament takes place. There is hope that if this tournament is a success, then it will become a regular feature in the football calendar.