Hi, do you like playing soccer? Do you like not sleeping? Then we’ve got the thing for you. To celebrate the start of the 2018 MLS season, NYCFC is hosting a 24-hour soccer marathon, with a five-a-side match that will last a full day.
The exhibition will be played at Rockefeller Center in New York City, set to start at 4 p.m. (ET) on Friday, March 9, continuing to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 10. About 500 players will have the chance to play soccer at famed 30 Rock as Patrick Vieira, David Villa and other NYCFC players criticize your insistence on toe-poking every shot you take.
The match itself will have five players on each side divided into two teams: Team Vieira and Team Villa. Every 30 minutes the players will rotate, with 12-hour halves and a “halftime celebration,” whatever that means.
“By the end of the game, it is going to be a very high score and I hope my team finishes on top,” David Villa said.
The first 500 people who sign up for the 24-hour soccer match will get a free ticket to NYCFC’s home opener on March 11 against the LA Galaxy at Yankee Stadium. NYCFC opens the season at Sporting KC on March 4, for which the club will host a pub crawl.
Interested fans may want to act quickly. The event was announced Thursday morning but by early afternoon the only times available to register for were between 2-8 a.m.
As an added bonus, NYCFC will be collecting donations for their City in the Community nonprofit, so some good will come of it aside from New Yorkers kicking a ball around at 3:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning.