JAPAN’S under-21 World Cup winning squad will open the inaugural Guernsey International Football Tournament against Argentina’s Boca Juniors four weeks today. Next year it could be Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Event organiser Sporting Eventualities yesterday confirmed the six-day event was definitely on and that its staging was the culmination of five years’ planning.

Iain Mackenzie, director of Sporting Eventualities, admitted it was a relief to give the event, which also features Paris Saint Germain and Glasgow Rangers, the green light.

‘We have been looking forward since 1999 to staging the Guernsey International Football Tournament and what we were waiting for was the development of Foote’s Lane.

‘We’re delighted to get it on and it’s our aim to make it an annual fixture and attract the world’s top clubs here.

‘We are already looking to bring in Real Madrid for next year. Bayern Munich is another one. Feyenoord have already confirmed.’

Mackenzie admitted it had not been easy to get it off the ground, but they had experienced similar problems five years ago when the first annual Jersey tournament was staged.

‘The inaugural tournament is always the most difficult one because we have to convince teams of this stature that they can play football in places like Guernsey.

‘Boca and Japan didn’t even know where Guernsey was.

‘Having done that, there are all the other things you have to arrange,’ said Mackenzie, notably finding the necessary financial backing.

‘The response [in Guernsey] has been excellent but our problem has been finding people who have money left in their annual budget.

‘A number of companies have shown great interest in supporting next year’s tournament.

‘The most important thing is to get the first one off the ground. What we have to do is make the template.’