China AC Milan-Ajax match axed over fees - report
A friendly between Italian giants AC Milan and recently crowned Dutch champions Ajax Amsterdam in Beijing was cancelled after the organisers failed to pay an appearance fee on time, Chinese media said on Tuesday.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: May 07, 2013 05:12 PM IST
A friendly between Italian giants AC Milan and recently crowned Dutch champions Ajax Amsterdam in Beijing was cancelled after the organisers failed to pay an appearance fee on time, Chinese media said on Tuesday.
The report emerged after the Serie A club announced on its Twitter account last Friday that the game, scheduled for the Chinese capital on May 25, had been cancelled for "organisational reasons".
A report on Sina Sports, one of China's top sports news portals, said AC Milan were expecting to be paid 50 percent of their 1.5 million euro ($2 million) appearance fee before an April 30 deadline.
But the organisers "did not secure financial support for the project", leading to the automatic cancellation of the contract, the report said, without citing sources.
Other Chinese reports said that Ajax could potentially play another team in the game, called the Winoly Cup.
The match organisers, Beijing-based sports promotions company Winoly, could not be reached for comment.
Winoly has helped mount a string of exhibition games in China, including a game between English Premier League sides Manchester City and Arsenal in Beijing last year.