The games of Orlando Pirates to defend the title of Betway Premiership will cheat this team of Abdeslam Ouaddou and the teams of the players they have hosted in the World Cup which is at its peak in Mexico, Canada and the United States of America (USA).
Pirates will return to the Marbella Football Center (MFC), Spain, where they have played for the past five seasons under coaches Jose Riveiro and Ouaddou respectively.
Over the years at this center, Pirates have played with different teams such as UD Las Palmas and Granada CF (Spain), Bolton Wanderers and Plymouth Argyle from England and Pafos FC from Cyprus playing in the Uefa Champions League.
This time the Bucs will face Real Sociedad of Spain on July 17, followed by the champions of the Saudi Pro League, Al Ettihad.
Both of these teams have players who represent their countries in the World Cup and are some of the best in the world.
The second match will be held on July 21 according to the Al Ettihad website.
Among the prominent players in Al Ittihad who helped them win the title of Saudi Arabia last season, there is Fabinho from Brazil who became famous in England’s Liverpool.
Although he got a few minutes on the field, he is still one of the key players in the Brazil squad that is out of the World Cup. This team, which won the World Cup five times, washed the jersey in the Last 16 and was knocked out by Norway.
In Sociedad, which finished in 10th place in the Spanish La Liga log last season, its captain Mikel Oyarzabal stood out, having scored four goals for Spain in the World Cup.
If Spain continues in the World Cup, this player will not be back in his team to face the Blacks. Spain will face Belgium in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Apart from these teams that will be facing the existing Pirates, some of the famous ones in the world will be using MFC to prepare for the start of the new season. Among them we can count Celtic from Scotland, Club America (Mexico), Coventry City (England), Al Ahli and Al Ettifaq played by Mohau Nkota in Saudi Arabia.