The inaugural Star Sixes tournament, an indoor six-a-side affair with international teams made up of legends of the sports battle it out over four days of action from July 13th-16th from the O2 Arena in London. This is a brand new event and it will be a treat for fans with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Robert Pires and Roberto Carlos all scrapping it out. Each of the matches are 20 minutes long and with rolling substitutions in the matches, then the action is going to be quick and fast all the way through. Punters are expecting an average of around 5-6 goals per match.
In Masters football, there is an average of around 5 goals per game and this is kind of the same format as that. In the first stage of the Star Sixes 2017 tournament, there are three groups of four nations and the top two from each of those groups will automatically go through to the knockout stages. They will be joined there by the two best third-placed teams. The semi finals, third place play off and the Final itself will all be contested on Monday.
Star Sixes Betting Odds
Portugal 7/2, Brazil 5/1, England 5/1, France 5/1, Germany 13/2, Spain 7/1, Italy 12/1, Nigeria 12/1, Scotland 20/1, Denmark 28/1, Mexico 33/1, China 50/1
Star Sixes Betting Promotion
Each week you can claim a free £5 bet with bookmaker SkyBet. This is because they run their great Sky Bet Club which is open to all punters. After opening an account with the bookmaker (where you can claim a free £20 bet bonus) you can go and opt into the Sky Bet Club. There, just make £25 worth of qualifying bets each week before 11.59:59 pm on Sunday evening and you will be credited with a free £5 bet to use! Just stay in the club by making the qualifying bets each week and you can keep collecting the free bets!
Star Sixes Preview
Group A
England (5/4)
Spain (6/4)
Mexico (6/1)
Scotland (13/2)
We are rolling back the years when we are looking at Paul Merson and Emile Heskey lining up for England. The English are also carrying Michael Owen whose could goals could be crucial and the drive from midfield of Steven Gerrard of course. Sky Bet announced that they have taken a heavy backing of an England/Michael Owen in the Winner/Top Goalscorer market. The English look a solid enough outfit to make it through to the qualifying stage and will probably be tested the most by Spain. Spain will probably just knock the ball around nicely in their usual tika-taka style and that is perfect for the tournament. England won’t have that kind of composure. As for Mexico, they are running with the oldest squad of all the nations at the tournament and Scotland are the least experienced in terms of international football. Spain to win, England to qualify.
Fixtures
England v Spain – 1930, July 13
Mexico v Scotland – 2000, July 13
Spain v Mexico – 2145, July 14
England v Scotland – 2215, July 14
Spain v Scotland – 1400, July 15
England v Mexico – 1445, July 15
Group B
Brazil (5/4)
Italy (11/4)
Nigeria (3/1)
China (16/1)
Brazil are going be heavily backed to win the tournament here. They look made for this, even though they aren’t running with a particularly young side at all. There is Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Juninho in there and they should cause some waves in the tournament. They actually look stronger at the back than most of the other nations too and no-one else in their group is likely going to really challenge them. Italy aren’t without their threats as they have Alessandro Del Piero, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Paolo Di Canio in their squad. They should be able to follow Brazil out of the group. Nigeria have a lot of familiar names in their group but aren’t expected to really challenge but it is the weakest group and could be a good dark horse to get out of it. China are the rank outsiders for the entire tournament. Brazil to win, Nigeria to qualify.
Fixtures
Nigeria v China – 2145, July 13
Brazil v Italy – 2215, July 13
china v Brazil – 2030, July 14
Italy v Nigeria – 2115, July 14
Brazil v Nigeria – 1300, July 15
Italy v China – 1330, July 15
Group C
Portugal (13/8)
France (15/8)
Germany (2/1)
Denmark (16/1)
Portugal have a very good squad for the Star Sixes. They are also carrying a huge advantage of being the youngest squad there and you look at Raul Meireles for example who has only just finished playing and stack that up against the likes of other greats in the tournament then Portugal look as if they could have the physical edge over everyone else in the tournament and that will carry them. They have the class of captain Deco in there and should threaten. France have a great looking squad with the likes of Robert Pires, William Gallas and Youri Djorkaeff and it could come down to a battle between then and Germany. Of the two, the French probably have a little more quality and trickery in their ranks. Portgual to win, France to qualify
Fixtures
Portugal v Denmark – 2300, July 13
Germany v France – 2145, July 13
France v Portugal – 1930, July 14
Denmark v Germany – 2000, July 14
France v Denmark – 1515, July 15
Germany v Portugal – 1545, July 15
Looking for Legends?
Here are the teams for the Star Sixes which may help you figure out who is going to win this inaugural edition.
BRAZIL: Roberto Carlos, Juliano Belletti, Gilberto Silva, Rivaldo, Elano, Dida, Juninho, Djalminha, Amaral, Júlio Baptista
CHINA: Peng Weiguo, Peng Weijun, Xia Yao, Liang Jianfeng, Jiang Feng, Wei Qun, Liu Cheng, Chen Yongqiang, Hu Zhijun, Li Wei
DENMARK: Martin Jorgensen, Stig Tofting, John Sivebaek, Daniel Jensen, Mikkel Beckmann, Mads Junker, Chris Sørensen, Per Krøldrup, Hjalte Bo Nørregaard, Jan Hoffmann
ENGLAND: Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen, David James, Emile Heskey, Phil Neville, Danny Murphy, Paul Merson, Lee Hendrie, Wes Brown
FRANCE: Robert Pires, Olivier Dacourt, William Gallas, Eric Abidal, Ludovic Giuly, Marcel Desailly, Sebastien Frey, Youri Djorkaeff, Bruno Cheyrou, Vincent Candela
GERMANY: Michael Ballack, Timo Hildebrand, Dietmar Hamann, Simon Rolfes, Marco Reich, Kevin Kuranyi, Jens Nowotny, J Org Albertz, Maurizio Gaudino, Dariusz Wosz
ITALY: Alessandro Del Piero, Simone Barone, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Paolo Di Canio, Angelo Di Livio, Massimo Oddo, Marco Amelia, Stefano Fiore, Marco Delvecchio, Luciano Zauri
MEXICO: Jared Borgetti, Luis Hernandez, Garcia Aspe, Joaquín Reyes, Braulio Luna, Mario Mendez, Miguel Zepeda, Alberto Rodriguez, Hector Altamirano, Erubey Cabuto
NIGERIA: Jay-Jay Okocha, Celestine Babayaro, Daniel Amokachi, Julius Aghahowa, Garba Lawal, Joseph Yobo, Taribo West, Victor Ikpeba, Peter Rufai, Uche Okechukwu
PORTUGAL: Deco, Vítor Baía, Fernando Couto, Maniche, Jose Bosingwa, Raul Meireles, Nuno Gomes, Paulo Ferreira, Helder Postiga, Luis Boa Morte
SCOTLAND: Dominic Matteo, Don Hutchison, Christian Dailly, Simon Donnelly, Rab Douglas, Paul Dickov, Barry Ferguson, Jackie McNamara, Mark Burchill, Richard Hughes
SPAIN: Carles Puyol, Gaizka Mendieta, Fernando Morientes, Michel Salgado, Luis Garcia, David Albelda, Pedro Contreras, Alfonso Perez, Carlos Marchena, Joan Capdevila
Knockout stage schedule
Quarter-final 1 – 1930, July 15
Quarter-final 2 – 2015, July 15
Quarter-final 3 – 2105, July 15
Quarter-final 4 – 2150, July 15
Semi-final 1 – 1900, July 16
Semi-final 2 – 1945, July 16
3rd/4th play-off – 2035, July 16
Final – 2120, July 16
Star Sixes Prediction:
Both England and Portugal look value to make good runs in the tournament and Portugal’s younger legs could well have the edge at the end of the day. England will be cheered on well by the home crowds, and Brazil will probably be a threat but their main players are no spring chickens. So things look good for a title coming the way of Portugal.
