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Swedish champs to face US women´s league stars
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Swedish women's football champions Umea IK will play America's top club stars in the first Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) All-Star Game on August 30 in St. Louis, the US league announced on Tuesday.
The game will be staged eight days after the inaugural WPS championship game with the all-star starters selected by vote and reserves decided by the coach and WPS commissioner Tonya Antonucci.
"Our league is part of the bigger growth of the women?s game at the global level and we wanted to acknowledge that by bringing in a club from outside the league," Antonucci said.
Three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Marta, a Los Angeles Sol forward who is joint leading scorer in the league, will likely be playing against her former teammates at Umea, which has won seven of the past nine Swedish crowns.
"It is going to be very exciting to play against the best players of WPS," Umea striker Hanna Ljungberg said. "Naturally we look forward to playing against Marta."
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