Green light ... Alessandro del Piero will play for the A-League All Stars against Manchester United. Source:News Limited
Sydney FC superstar Alessandro Del Piero is poised to deliver football fans a dream match-up by playing in the up-coming A-League All Stars match against Manchester United in Sydney.
The odds of Del Piero making himself available were slashed yesterday when Sydney FC confirmed they would not be leaving for their friendly match in Japan, until July 22 - two days after the All Stars match at ANZ Stadium, on July 20.
Del Piero and the Sky Blues will play their friendly against J-League side Sagan Tosu on July 24.
It has been widely considered that the All Stars match would clash with Sydney FC's trip to Japan, ruling Del Piero out of a stellar clash with the likes of Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie and Rio Ferdinand.
Until now.
Confirmation of Sydney FC's travel dates to Japan translates into a major boost for fans who voted Del Piero as the most popular forward in an online poll to select the All Stars side.
Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop said he was planning to meet with Del Piero's management this week in a bid to confirm the 38-year-old's selection in the All Stars line-up.
"The question of Alessandro's availability for the All Stars match is something we will raise in the next week in talks with his management team,'' Gallop said.
"The fans have voted strongly for Alessandro and we have a duty to those fans to explore all the options.
"We do acknowledge that he needs to carefully manage his pre-season preparations, but at the moment the door is open for ADP.''
The bulk of the 82,000 tickets for United's game have already gone with the FFA set to ramp up telecast negotiations over the next 10 days.
Given Fox Sports commitment to Saturday night live coverage of NRL, AFL and Super Rugby, the commercial networks of Channel Seven, Nine and Ten are likely to pursue the rights to televise the match to a global TV audience of more than 30 million across Asia and Europe.
Gallop added that telecast rights for the match was close to being struck.
"The Man U brand is so popular across Australia and Asia that we are talking in terms of tens of millions for the live global TV audience for the match.
"We've said from the outset that this match is the opportunity to showcase the A-League to the world and we're very excited about the long-term benefits from the local and worldwide exposure.''
Del Piero is currently with family in Italy and is not due back to Sydney FC training until after his teammates return on June 19.
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