Brazilian football legends Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka are set to appear in a friendly match in the Chechen capital of Grozny against a side captained by the republic's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The republic's sports minister, Khaidar Alkhanov, said the Brazilian national team, in its World Cup-winning 2002 line-up, will take on "the Ramzan Kadyrov team" on March 10.
"If everything goes well, Chechens will be able to see such great players as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka," he said, adding "Ramzan Kadyrov himself will be the team's captain."
Chechnya saw two brutal federal wars against separatists in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. Although the Russian authorities have announced that their large-scale anti-terrorist campaign in the republic is over, militant attacks on police and security officers as common there.
Kadyrov fought against federal troops during the first Chechen war, but sided with the Kremlin at the beginning of the second war in 2000. He has been accused of large-scale human rights abuses in the republic. He denies the allegations.
Alkhanov also said the republic's authorities were planning to invite FIFA head Sepp Blatter, UEFA chief Michel Platini, and Dutch football stars Marcel van Basten and Franklin Rijkaard for the opening ceremony of a new stadium in Grozny in May.
The stadium is named after Ramzan Kadyrov's father, former Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Grozny on May 9, 2004.
The announcement comes shortly after Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit was named trainer of Terek Grozny and veteran Brazilian star Roberto Carlos announced a move to Anzhi, from the neighboring North Caucasus republic of Dagestan.
GROZNY, February 15 (RIA Novosti)
