FC Barcelona football players will be heading to Zambia for a ‘legends tour’, which will culminate in an exhibition match with Zambia football legends at the National Heroes stadium in Lusaka on May 27.

Minister of Sports, Youth and Arts, Elvis Nkandu, confirmed that Brazilian legend Ronaldinho Gaucho, who also featured for PSG and AC Milan, is part of the 20 Barcelona legends who have confirmed participation in the event.

Speaking at the launch of hosting the FC Barcelona legends tour, Nkandu said the event would be hosted to market Zambia as a destination for tourism and economic investment, as it was “now part of the champions league in all facets of economic and social development”.

Alongside Ronaldinho, Nkandu named Guillermo Amor, Juliano Belleti, Francesco Coco, Frank de Boer, Dani Garcia Lara, Frederick Dehu, Jose Edmilson, Santo Ezquerro, Gabrio, Giovanni, Guily, Goicoetxea, Jari Litmanen, Luis Garcia, Gaizeka Mendiata, Okunowo, Roger Garcia, Sergi Barjuan and Miquel Soler as the Barca team who will tour Zambia.

Nkandu said the Ministry would appoint the local organising committee that will spearhead the hosting of the event, with membership drawn from both the public and private sectors.

The committee will oversee the fundraising and revenue, security, logistics, hospitality, marketing and public relations in terms of managing the event.

“The economic benefits that this exhibition match will bring to the country cannot be overlooked. Firstly, the matches will be watched by a global television audience as the television rights for the event will be sold to different markets. Secondly, the content around the match is expected on IPTV platforms that have tens of millions of subscribers – Barca TV among them. The various local business sectors such as transport, accommodation and food industries will benefit directly from hosting the FC Barca legends tour,” said Nkandu.