Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid have reached a 10-year agreement that includes the teams playing each other semi-annually and joint training of young players.
Dave Checketts, owner of the Major League Soccer Real in Salt Lake, announced Friday that the Spanish club has agreed to play the American team every other year.
Madrid came to Salt Lake City last month and beat the American club 2-0 in an exhibition. The agreement has Madrid returning to Utah in 2008, when Salt Lake hopes to be playing in its new stadium in Sandy.
Real Madrid will also help build a soccer academy in Salt Lake City to train up to 200 young players. Salt Lake will send players each February to train Madrid's facilities.
Checketts has been trying to get the agreement in place since naming the Salt Lake City team for the European club two years ago.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-09-02-06 1425MDT
