World soccer stars, politicians to play friendly match in Grozny

GROZNY, May 11 (Itar-Tass) - A sports complex named after Ahmat
Kadyrov, the First President of the Chechen Republic, opens here on
Wednesday. This is southern Russia's largest sports center of most
up-to-date architectural and technical design.
The first phase of the putting of the facility into operation is to be
marked on Wednesday: the commissioning of a stadium named after Ahmat
Kadyrov. The large sports arena of the soccer stadium has a seating
capaicty of 30,000.
The second phase will be to build two fields -- a training soccer
field with naturl surfacing with a 1,000-seat grandstand, and a training
field with artificial surfacing. It is also planned to build a sports
palace seating 5,000, swiming-pools for 500 people, tennis courts,
volleyball and basketball grounds, halls for boxing and wresting
sections, etc.
A 500-room hotel complex is tobe built as well. a land plot with an
area of 45 hectares has been allotted for the sports complex,with a
built-up area being17 hectares.
A combined team of world soccer stars will arrive here to attend the
opening of the complex and play a friendly match with a team of Russian
politicians and sportsmen.
The Team of Stars will comprise Diego Maradona, Allen Bogosian, Franco
Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, Luis Figo, Manuel Amoros, Roberto Ayala,
Robbie Fowler, Enzo Francescoli, Steve McManaman, Jean-Pierre Christian
Vieri, Ivan Zamorano, and Fabien Barthez.
The Russian soccer team will be headed by Alexander Khloponin, RF
plenipotentiary presidential representative in the North Caucasian Federal
District. The team will also include the chiefs of a number of regions in
the North Caucasus, as well as prominent soccer players, among them Renat
Dasayev, Dmitry Alenichev, and Nikolai Pisarev.