China to host next three Supercoppa finals

The Lega Calcio has confirmed that the Italian Super Cup final will be held in China for the next three years after promoters in Beijing agreed to pay 10million euros to host the matches.

Last August's Supercoppa Italiana final - the traditional curtain raiser to the Italian league season - between Serie A champions Inter and Coppa Italia winners Lazio was played at Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium and the competition has, in the past, been played abroad in the USA and Libya.

"The General Assembly meeting of Serie A clubs has accepted the offer from China to play the next three Supercoppa finals in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou," Lega Calcio President Maurizio Beretta said in a statement.

"The agency that purchased the 2009 final between Inter and Lazio have seen excellent results and therefore presented a package for a longer term, increasing the value by about 20 percent compared to this year.

"This is a great demonstration of the increasing interest level in Italian football on the international scene," Beretta added.

It is expected the 2010 edition will once again be played at the iconic Bird's Nest Stadium, with the final then moving to the central eastern venue of the Shanghai National Stadium and to the Guangdong Olympic Stadium in the southern port city of Guangzhou in the following two years.

Before this year, in which Lazio emerged the winners in front of nearly 80,000 spectators and millions more through free-to-air television in China, the Supercoppa had three previous dates on foreign soil with AC Milan prevailing in Washington (USA) in 1993 and Juventus lifting the trophy in Tripoli (Libya) in 2002 and in New York (USA) 12 months later.

Source: Lega Calcio