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The Shanghai International Football Tournament (SIFT) is an annual football event in China that has been hosted and organized by the municipal government of Shanghai since 1991. The tournament usually consists of two double-header evenings featuring all four clubs.
After the first event in 1991, SIFT was held every year until 2001, when it took a four-year break. Its sponsors before this time included Marlboro, Guanshenyuan, Fushoutong, Huili and Budweiser.
In 2005, the tournament was revived by USSM, a sports marketing company, featuring three Spanish La Liga teams (Villarreal, Sevilla, and Real Zaragoza) as well as Shanghai United, a dream team chosen by a public vote.
SIFT 2006 featured three international clubs - Manchester United, Atlético Madrid and Kashima Antlers - competing against a China Super League club, Shanghai Shenhua FC, in the Shanghai Hong Kou Stadium. The TV broadcast of the 2006 event was shown in 115 countries around the world.
Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm is an American former professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a forward for the United States national team from 1987 to 2004. Hamm was the face of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, where she played for the Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003. She played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels and helped the team win four NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship titles.
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