DUBAI: Dubai is like Madjer’s second home. After his successful years playing for Al Ahli, the Portuguese star is now looking to cause a stir as Dubai hosts the Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup at the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) from November 4 to 8.
Madjer’s story is steeped in accolades and history, much like Portugal. But their future looks even brighter than the past with Portugal preparing to play host to the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup next year.
However, before that is his next challenge as Dubai plays host to the Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup for the fourth successive time.
The Intercontinental Cup attracts eight of the best beach soccer teams from all six continents over five days of competition. This is the fourth year of this new competition and former two-time world champions Russia will be joined by defending champions Iran and hosts UAE along with beach soccer kings Brazil, USA, Japan, Portugal and Morocco.
“For Portugal, it is a real honour to be part of such an important competition on the beach soccer calendar as we get the rare honour of playing against the best teams from all six continents. Every beach soccer players dreams of playing in the Intercontinental Cup and I am no different. Hopefully, we will be able to put up a good show and win this title for the first time,” Madjer said.
On November 4, the competition will kick off with the USA taking on Brazil at 4.15pm, while Portugal will commence their campaign against Iran at 8pm.
Often not considered one of the big sides in world beach soccer, Portugal’s best performance was a runners-up spot in 2005 followed by three successive third place finishes in 2008, 2009 and 2011 with Madjer leading from the front as skipper.
But Portugal failed to qualify for the 2013 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup and Madjer now wants to make amends as the squad builds up towards next year’s World Cup on home ground. “Doing well in the Intercontinental Cup will help us to a great extent. This competition has the best teams from around the world and it will be a good experience for the team especially for the youngsters. We have been good as a team, but we do want to get better and considered one of the best teams in the world,” Madjer said.
“Dubai has always been a second home for me for the past few years and now we want to kick-start our campaign for the 2015 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup right here,” he added.
