RIYADH — Spanish football legend Carles Puyol is in Saudi Arabia this Christmas for the Teqball Masters 2019 tournament in Riyadh which began on Dec. 17 and will end on Thursday (Dec. 19).

The Teqball tournament is featuring 18 athletes from eight different countries across singles and doubles for three days of competition as part of the Middle Eastern city’s three month long mega event known as Riyadh Season.

The desert city is playing host to former Barcelona FC and Spain international star Puyol.

Teqball players from Morocco, Cameroon, Romania, Algeria, Tunisia, Poland, France and Hungary are participating in the tournament and eyeing for a share of $25,000 prize money, fresh from competing at the recent Teqball World Championships in Budapest earlier this month.

The event is Teqball’s first foray into the Middle East and part of a wider strategy to reach more and more countries around the world on its journey to feature in the Olympics by the year 2032.

There are some media interviews lined up for Puyol on Thursday following a press conference.