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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
Former Argentina and Manchester City star Sergio Aguero has entered a team and will play in The Soccer Tournament, the 7-on-7, $1 million, winner-take-all event this summer.
The tournament will take place from June 5-10 in Cary, North Carolina, and be broadcast by ESPN.
“We are ecstatic to welcome Sergio and his team to this year’s field,” TST founder and CEO Jon Mugar said in a statement. “Not only is he one of the best players of all time, but he’s also one of the fiercest competitors ever. He’s coming to Cary to have fun and compete, which is exactly what TST is all about.”
Aguero, 35, retired in 2021 after an 18-year career, most of which was spent at Manchester City, for whom he scored a club-record 260 goals in 390 appearances. He appeared in three World Cups, finishing as the runner-up in 2014 and scoring twice in 2018.
Aguero announced his retirement at the age of 33 after he had moved to Barcelona and following an incident in which he was substituted during a match with Alaves due to chest pains. Barca later said the discomfort had been caused by an arrhythmia and he would be treated in the coming months, but Aguero never returned to competitive play.
He has not yet announced who else will join him on Aguero Team, which is one of several high-profile teams in the 48-team men’s field.
Borussia Dortmund, Wrexham and Como 1907 are among the professional clubs that will be represented, along with several other teams featuring former professionals, including Nani FC, which will feature Luis Nani and Mario Balotelli. A team run by former U.S. men’s national team players Jimmy Conrad and DaMarcus Beasley has returned for a second year, this time playing under the name Kwik Goal FC.
Newtown Pride FC, an amateur team based in Connecticut that featured several professional indoor players, won the inaugural tournament last year.
This year will also feature an 8-team, $1 million women’s tournament, including a team called US Women led by former U.S. women’s national team star Heather O’Reilly.