Neymar Jr's Five lands in Oman this weekend

Muscat: Brazil and Barcelona great Neymar Jr. is giving thousands of young football players the chance to step up their game by staging a unique knockout tournament.
The striker is inviting players aged between 16-25 years old in more than 35 countries, across 6 continents, to team up for his five-a-side tournament, ‘Neymar Jr’s Five’.
Five local qualifiers will be held in Oman start this weekend and running throughout the month. The first qualifier will be held this Friday in Bausher and on Saturday in Al Maabeila. In the coming weeks the qualifier will also visit Sohar, Sur and Salalah.
“It’s a fun, fast and technical game,” said Neymar Jr., who grew up playing the same kind of fast-paced five-a-side football in his neighborhood. “It's the kind of football I've always loved to play and this time we play it with a special twist to it: the five-player teams lose one player each time they concede a goal until there are no players left, or the 10-minute game ends. This will be even more exciting."
The qualifying process will start this weekend for the next month followed by a national champion advancing to the finals in July in Praia Grande, where Neymar Jr grew up, started his professional career and lately founded “Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr”.
“I always dreamed of putting on my own signature tournament and inviting the best teams over to my hometown. This finally becomes a reality so I'm really looking forward to see what these players can do - and have a great time doing it.” Neymar Jr helped devise the format and will also have the winning team as his guests at a match at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain.
The world final will be held in July at the Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The institute’s aim is to offer extracurricular educational and sporting activities to the most socially disadvantaged children and families to promote social inclusion and encourage participation in the community. The Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr was opened in 2014 and is the second 'FutbolNet' program in Brazil in partnership with FC Barcelona Foundation after a first was set up in the favelas in Rio de Janeiro two years earlier.