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Steven Gerrard and Alessandro Del Piero are among the legends ready to battle it out at the inaugural Star Sixes tournament.

Taking place at London's O2 Arena, 12 teams of renowned former international players will roll back the years in pursuit of silverware.

With national pride at stake, Gerrard and Co are naturally keen to show there is still magic in their boots.

But to give you a better insight of what to expect, here's what Robert Pires — who will skipper France — had to say: “This football will be totally different.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Daily Mirror)

“This is inside, the pitch is smaller and the fans will see more dribbling, more skills.

“I’m very happy to be a part of Star Sixes. I’m a competitor and although I’m retired, when you play football the most important thing is to win!”

Thanks for that, 'Bobby'!

Read on to discover everything else you need to know about the new six-a-side spectacular...

When is Star Sixes?

Group stage matches will take place across three sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All 12 countries will play one 20-minute match in each of these sessions.

The 12 Star Sixes teams have been drawn into three groups of four, with the top two from each plus the best two third-placed teams qualifying for the quarter-finals.

An evening session on Saturday will feature four quarter-finals, while the Sunday evening session includes two semi-finals, a third-place decider and the Star Sixes final.

(Image: Star Sixes)

Confirmed teams

Brazil: Roberto Carlos, Juliano Belletti, Gilberto Silva, Rivaldo, Dida, Elano, Juninho, Djalminha, Julio Baptista, Amaral.

China: Peng Weiguo, Jiang Feng, Wei Qun, Li Wei, Chen Yongqiang, Peng Weijun, Yao Xia, Hu Zhijun, Liu Cheng, Liang Jiangfeng.

Denmark: Martin Jorgensen, Stig Tofting, John Sivebaek, Daniel Jensen, Mads Junker, Mikkel Beckmann, Chris Sorensen, Hjalte Norregaard, Per Kroldrup, Jan Hoffmann.

England: Steven Gerrard, David James, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand, Emile Heskey, Phil Neville, Paul Merson, Danny Murphy, Lee Hendrie, Wes Brown.

France: Robert Pires, Olivier Dacourt, William Gallas, Eric Abidal, Ludovic Giuly, Marcel Desailly, Sebastien Frey, Youri Djorkaeff, Bruno Cheyrou, Vincent Candela.

(Image: PA)

Germany: Michael Ballack, Marco Reich, Simon Rolfes, Dietmar Hamann, Kevin Kuranyi, Jorg Albertz, Jens Nowotny, Maurizio Gaudino, Dariusz Wosz, Timo Hildebrand.

Italy: Alessandro Del Piero, Angelo Di Livio, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Luciano Zauri, Marco Amelia, Marco Delvecchio, Massimo Oddo, Paolo Di Canio, Simone Barone, Stefano Fiore.

Mexico: Jared Borgetti, Luis Hernandez, Joaquin Reyes, Mario Mendez, Alberto Garcia Aspe, Hector Altamirano, Alberto Rodriguez, Braulio Luna, Miguel Zepeda, Erubey Cabuto.

Nigeria: Jay-Jay Okocha, Celestine Babayaro, Daniel Amokachi, Julius Aghahowa, Garba Lawal, Joseph Yobo, Victor Ikpeba, Taribo West, Uche Okechukwu, Peter Rufai.

Portugal: Deco, Vitor Baia, Maniche, Fernando Couto, Jose Bosingwa, Nuno Gomes, Raul Meireles, Helder Postiga, Paulo Ferreira, Luis Boa Morte.

(Image: Laurence Griffiths)

Scotland: Don Hutchison, Dominic Matteo, Simon Donnelly, Christian Dailly, Paul Dickov, Rab Douglas, Barry Ferguson, Mark Burchill, Jackie McNamara, Richard Hughes.

Spain: Carles Puyol, Gaizka Mendieta, Michel Salgado, Pedro Contreras, David Albelda, Alfonso Perez, Luis Garcia, Fernando Morientes, Carlos Marchena, Joan Capdevila.

TV details

Don't despair if you can't get to The O2 to watch the action in person — each and every Star Sixes match will be broadcast live on Sky Sports 1 HD.

Fixtures

Thursday evening session (Doors open 6pm)

Group A: England v Spain (7.30pm), Mexico v Scotland (8pm)

Group B: Nigeria v China (9.45pm), Brazil v Italy (10.15pm)

Group C: Portugal v Denmark (8.30pm), Germany v France (9.15pm)

Friday evening session (Doors open 6pm)

Group A: Spain v Mexico (9.45pm), Scotland v England (10.15pm)

Group B: China v Brazil (8.30pm), Italy v Nigeria (9.15pm)

Group C: France v Portugal (7.30pm), Denmark v Germany (8pm)

(Image: Getty)

Saturday afternoon session (Doors open 11.30am)

Group A: Spain v Scotland (2pm), England v Mexico (2.45pm)

Group B: Brazil v Nigeria (1pm), Italy v China (1.30pm)

Group C: France v Denmark (3.15pm), Germany v Portugal (3.45pm)

Saturday evening session (Doors open 6pm)

Quarter-final 1 (7.30pm)

Quarter-final 2 (8.15pm)

Quarter-final 3 (9.05pm)

Quarter-final 4 (9.50pm)

Sunday evening session (Doors open 5.30pm)

Semi-final 1 (7pm)

Semi-final 2 (7.45pm)

Third place play-off (8.35pm)

Final (9.20pm)

Can I still get tickets?

Indeed you can!

With prices starting at just £30 for adults and £10 for children, tickets are available to buy online at www.theo2.co.uk/starsixes

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