W Cup tournament featuring Croatia gets moved to Egypt

Croatia will now play in Cairo

The friendly W Cup tournament, featuring Croatia, Egypt, Tunisia and New Zealand has been moved from Abu Dhabi to Cairo. 

The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) has reached an agreement with the football associations of Egypt, Tunisia, and New Zealand to hold their friendly tournament in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, instead of the initially planned Abu Dhabi (UAE), HNS confirmed today. 

The four federations simultaneously terminated the contract with the intended W Cup organiser due to the failure to fulfill key contract provisions, subsequently seeking an appropriate new solution. According to the joint agreement, the Egyptian Football Association will take over the organisation of the tournament, which will now be held in Cairo from March 22nd to March 26th, HNS said. 

The tournament will follow the previously scheduled format – on March 22nd, Croatia will face Tunisia, and Egypt will play against New Zealand in the semi-finals. Then, the matches for the third place (March 25th) and the final (March 26th) will be played.

“We regret such a turn of events, but we had to react to protect the national team’s sporting interests, as well as the Federation’s business interests. We thank our colleagues from New Zealand, Tunisia, and Egypt, with whom we had open communication, and jointly agreed on all steps. We particularly appreciate Egypt’s readiness to take over the organisation of this tournament. Most importantly, we have managed to ensure that we do not significantly alter the team’s plans, in agreement with the coach, as we have the same opponents and remain committed to the idea of ​​providing the team with a quality week together,” said the president of the Croatian Football Federation, Marijan Kustić.

“The change in location doesn’t alter our plans significantly, and I thank the Federation for finding a suitable solution in such a short time in collaboration with the remaining tournament participants. In Zagreb and Cairo, we will have all the conditions to fulfill our goals – play two competitive matches, have good training sessions, and spend quality time together, thus strengthening the good atmosphere ahead of the Euros this summer,” said coach Zlatko Dalić.

The Croatian Football Federation will subsequently inform the public about ticket sales for this tournament and the precise schedule of matches with locations. 

The national team will gather in Zagreb on Monday, March 18th, where they will stay until March 21st when they travel to Cairo.