Fintan Drury's Platinum One conferencing and sports management agency has signed a deal with FC Barcelona to organise a two-match pre-season tour of Scotland for the Catalan club in July.
Under the terms of the deal, Barcelona has agreed to bring its top players, who include Brazilian striker Ronaldinho and Argentina's rising star Lionel Messi, to Scotland to play games against Dundee United at Tannadice Park on July 23rd and Heart of Midlothian at Murrayfield on July 28th.
It is understood that Platinum One has agreed to pay more than €500,000 to Barcelona, the reigning Uefa Champions League holders, to secure them for the matches.
In addition, Platinum One will cover the Catalan club's accommodation and training costs and will also pay fees to Dundee United and Hearts. Barcelona will stay at the Old Course Hotel at St Andrews.
The total costs for the two games are expected to top €750,000.
This is a major coup for Platinum One, which established an office in Barcelona in April 2006. The company also purchased Hastings International in Scotland two years ago. "This is the first time that we've brought all the strands of the business together," Mr Drury said.
He would not comment on the costs of the tour for his company. He said the tour would be a major undertaking in its bid to establish Platinum One as a leading organiser of football events in Europe.
"We're comfortable that we'll break even on this, and the ambition is to do much better than that," Mr Drury said. Platinum One has sold the TV rights to Setanta Sports and the matches will be shown live in Ireland, Scotland and Spain.
Eamon McLoughlin, a senior member of Platinum One's management team in Dublin, said it hoped to sell out Dundee United's 17,000-capacity ground. The group is also confident of getting a crowd of 25,000 or more to Murrayfield.
"We expect Barcelona to prove a huge draw with Scottish football fans," Mr McLoughlin said. This will be the first time that Barcelona has played in Edinburgh.
