Manchester City’s hotly anticipated exhibition match at Al Ain’s Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium will be the first of many international events to be staged at the new facility, the Stadium Manager revealed.

Rashid Abdullah said hosting the Premier League giants will serve as the first major test of the four-month-old venue ahead of exciting plans to host concerts, shows and grand-scale corporate events in coming years.

“The City game is the first step on a long journey for us,” said Rashid, who is in charge of the day-to-day running of the facility. “Our vision is to deliver the best sporting, cultural and entertainment events, with the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium at the heart of everything.

“We will have concerts, entertainment, cultural events and world class sporting events that will make Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium the focal point of the community, just as it will be for the game against Manchester City.”

The Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium is the centrepiece of a 500,000 square metre complex that could well become a blue print for future stadium development in the region.

The stadium complex will eventually house retail, commercial and residential facilities with more than 50 restaurants and a 172-room international hotel, catering for the additional tourism the stadium will bring to the city.

A number of sports zones, including a swimming pool, a cycle path, jogging track and the biggest Gold’s Gym in the region, will provide visitors and residents with opportunities to embrace a healthy lifestyle.

“We are very proud to be welcoming Manchester City to the Hazza Bin Zayed stadium,” Rashid added. “It’s not only the administration of Al Ain Club that is looking forward to it, the whole community is excited and that’s what Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium is – a source of pride for the people and the community of Al Ain, not just for the City game, but for the future.”

Preparation for the City match on May 15 began several weeks ago and, according to Rashid, everything is coming together nicely for the showpiece event.

“The preparation that goes into welcoming such a big and important team like Manchester City begins weeks before. We are expecting a full house and we’re working very closely with a number of partners including the police, the municipality and with Manchester City to make everything ready,” he said.

“It’s a step-by-step process and we have deadlines for everything including car parking, tickets, health and safety, work on the pitch, seating, food and media, to name just a few.

“We will have 13 gates open for the fans to enter and leave the stadium. That’s many more than on a usual match day, but that’s just one consideration of many – the important thing is to make sure that everything runs according to the plan we have set out.

“It is unprecedented at this stadium to have a sell-out of 25,000 fans, but we could not be more prepared for it. We believe we have everything in place to make this the most successful event Al Ain has ever seen.”