Real Madrid will play in Thailand

Real Madrid's visit to Thailand is now for real as organisers confirmed yesterday that they had struck a deal with the Spanish champions at a cut price.

The star-studded side will play a friendly against Thailand on August 10 at Rajamangala Stadium and are scheduled to arrive in Bangkok a day earlier, said Vorawoot Rojanaparnich, managing director of Dhospaak Co.

"Following our talks in the past two days, Real Madrid have agreed to bring their full squad to Thailand. The fees are much cheaper than the sum they had asked for in our previous negotiations. It is about half the previous fees," he said.

"We are delighted that we are giving Thais the chance to see world-class stars."

Madrid superstars include some of the world's most expensive players such as Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo, Raul Gonzalez and new signing David Beckham, arguably the world's most popular player who receives cult status in Asia.

The government had earlier tried to bring the Spanish club to Thailand but could not reach an agreement because they demanded around 130 million baht in appearance fees. While Vorawoot did not disclose the agreed appearance fees, insiders said it was around US$1.2 million (about 51 million baht).

Real Madrid, who are in China for the first stop of their Asian tour, were originally scheduled to play in Malaysia on August 10, their last destination of the current trip.

Malaysian organisers said earlier this week that they had called off the match because Real asked for nearly US$3 million. The Madrid side reportedly increased the fees to three times of the original price after they had signed Beckham from Manchester United.

The reported astronomical appearance fees prompted Peter Velappan, secretary-general of the Asian Football Confederation, to label the Spanish champions "blood suckers" and "mercenaries." He also called on his Asian national associations not to pay such a huge sum for touring teams.

But Vorawoot said Real Madrid representatives told him that the Malaysia match had been cancelled because the organisers were in breach of contract.

Accoring to Vorawoot, the contract stated that Malaysia could not hold any international matches 30 days before the Real game. However, the Malaysians are currently featuring the Premier League Asia Cup involving Chelsea, Newcastle and Birmingham.

The Bangkok match will be co-organised by Dhospaak, the Football Association of Thailand and the Sports Authority of Thailand, said Vorawoot, whose firm holds the broadcast rights of the 2006 World Cup and some other Fifa-sanctioned tournaments.