Four top football clubs from South Korea, Japan and China will play during the annual A3 Champions Cup at Jinan of Shandong province, east China, in June.

 

"The A3 Cup has been successfully held for four years, and has really helped the three east Asian countries improve their football skill," said Nan Yong, vice president of the Chinese Football Association at a press conference on Tuesday.

 

K-League winner Seongnam Chunma, J-League champions Urawa Reds, Chinese Super League first-placed Shandong Luneng and runners-up Shanghai Shenhua will fight against each other from June 7-13 in the tournament with a total prize of US$850,000.

 

All representatives from the three countries expressed their willingness of promoting the A3 Cup to a high level tournament with great interest from the fans and the media, in which some youth developing program and marketing methods are involved.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2007)