A deluge of former international football stars, including Brazilians Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos along with Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs, have been paid hefty amounts between USD 300,000 to USD 600,000 to play a couple of exhibition matches in Pakistan.
Along with them, some of the other big stars, who will be joining are Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pires, David James, George Boateng and Luis Boa Morte.
The players arrived in Karachi on Saturday in a private jet manned by the Pakistan military.
The two exhibition matches will be held in Karachi and Lahore under the auspices of the Leisure Leagues and World Group who claim they want to promote the sport in Pakistan.
According to a report in the “News International”, the leisure league is paying Ronaldinho around USD 600,000 for the short visit while the other players are getting paid between USD 300,000 and USD 400,000.
Interestingly, the Pakistani players who will play alongside the international stars of the exhibition games, have complained that they have not been promised any payments from the organizers for the matches.
The organisers are selling tickets for the exhibition matches priced between 2000 and 30,000 Pakistani rupees.
Due to the devastating effects of terrorist attacks in Pakistan for the last one-decade, international teams and players have refrained from coming to Pakistan due to security concerns.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)