All eyes on Manchester United as Audi Cup kicks off

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Audi, a world class football tournament pitting the formidable might of the legendary Manchester United against equally revered sides such as FC Bayern Munich, AC Milan and the Boca Juniors from Argentina will take place on July the 29th and 30th at the Allianz Arena in Munich. The eventual winners of the ‘Audi Cup’ will lift a 60 centimetre high winner’s trophy sculpted, very appropriately, from the Vorsprung durch Technik brand’s trademark aluminium by the team at Concept Design Munich.

The Audi Cup, which is being held for the first time in the brand’s Centenary year, comprises a total of four games, so each team will appear twice in the Allianz Arena. On 29 July, Manchester United will meet the Argentinean champions Boca Juniors. In the second semi-final AC Milan will try to put hosts FC Bayern Munich out of the competition. One day later, on 30 July, the game for third place will take place first. This will be followed by the final for the Audi Cup 2009 title.

The commemorative competition, which is to be screened in real time on Manchester United Television (MUTV) on Sky channel 406 or Virgin Media channel 530, brings together teams which have collectively won 78 national league championship titles, creating exactly the right conditions for a classic ‘edge-of-seat’ footballing epic. The action starts on Wednesday afternoon at 16.30 Central European Time.

The normally subscriber-only MUTV will also make a highlights package available free-to-air on MUTV at 9pm on Friday 31st July. This will be available to all subscribers to either Sky or Virgin. In addition, TalkSport Radio will be broadcasting editorial content throughout the tournament. This will include exclusive interviews with former players/managers, previews in the run up to the matches and live bulletins on key match developments.