Manchester United officials visit East Bengal for likely exhibition match next year

Kolkata: If everything works out, East Bengal in its centenary year celebrations will play an exhibition match with English Premier League giants Manchester United at the Salt Lake Stadium next year.

A four-member delegation from Manchester United, led by Director of Football Allan Dawson, met the red-and-gold club officials and West Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas on Friday.

They also visited the Salt Lake Stadium and expressed satisfaction at the facilities, East Bengal executive committee member Debabrata Sarkar said.

"This was a preliminary inspection and they will submit a report within 10 days based on which we will go forward. Then we will work out the financial logistics," Sarkar said.

It is learnt that the appearance fee for the Red Devils is a whopping Rs 24 crore, plus other extra expenses which will make it a Rs 30-crore affair.

If it works out, this match will be a part of the centenary celebrations of East Bengal and United's pre-season Asia tour in July 2020.

East Bengal began their centenary celebrations with aplomb on 31 July with a march from Kolkata's Kumartuli area to the club ground at Maidan. A galaxy of stars, including World Cup winning cricket captain Kapil Dev, were felicitated.

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