Messi and friends charity matches.

Today, Lionel Messi announced on YouTube the organization of four charity matches by “Messi and Friends” to be played in four different cities in South and North America. The games, played for the benefit of Messi’s charity foundation, “in generating support for children’s charities”, will include star players from around the world.

In the video, Messi says “the friends” are not the professional players that will make up the teams, but that they are all the football lovers who will follow the matches, and hence support the charities. The second game will include Messi’s Barça teammate next season, Neymar, while it seems that Mascherano and Abidal will take part in all four games. Below are the details of the events.

Saturday, June 29 – Medellin, Columbia

The first game will take place in Atanasion Girardot Stadium in Medellin, where Messi and Friends will play against “the rest of the world”. The players will include Abidal, Mascherano, Materazzi, Demicheli, Bojan, Kun Agüero, and Robinho.

Tuesday, July 2 – Lima, Peru

The second game will take place in Estadio Nacional in Lima, and it is being billed as the “Duel of the Giants” according to FC Barcelona’s official website. The billing is the result of Neymar’s participation in this match alongside Sergio Busquets, Abidal, Mascherano, Julio César, David Luiz, and others.

Wednesday, July 3 – Los Angeles, USA

The third game will be at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. Messi’s team will include himself, Pinto, Mascherano, Cesc Fàbregas, Alex Song, Busquets, Abidal, Pablo Aimar, Marek Hamsik, Alvaro Pereira, and Walter Gargano. “The rest of the world team” will include Giovani dos Santos, David Ospina, Gerardo Torrado, Jesus Corona, Jonathan dos Santos, Marco Fabián, James Rodriguez, Kevin Boateng, Antonio Cassano, Robert Lewandowski, and Emiliano Insua.

Saturday, July 6 – Chicago, USA

The final game will take place at Soldier Field in Chicago, and will include Jordi Alba, Busquets, Cesc Fàbregas, Agüero, rumor-heavy Edinson Cavani and Robert Lewandowski, New York Red Bulls and former Barça forward Thierry Henry, Chelsea’s David Luiz, and Florent Malouda.

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2013/news/messi-and-friends-charity-matches/#ixzz2XlqHM9WL