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Motor sport and football to join forces at the ROC World Cup

The Race Of Champions and Frankfurt's Commerzbank Arena will bring motor sport and football together under the same roof at two all-new events to coincide with Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The centrepiece of the month-long festivities will be a race featuring past and present drivers from the world's big football nations such as Germany, France, England, Italy, Spain and Brazil. The format will be based on the annual end-of-year ROC Nations Cup with head-to-head racing in identical cars - but seeing what happens when you take some of football's biggest rivalries and transfer them from the pitch to ROC's unique parallel racetrack.

The Frankfurt venue will also host a series of motor sport-related events lasting for the duration of the football tournaments including a Fan Festival with entertainment, music and exhibition stands plus karting and drive days. The Commerzbank Arena will be ‘the place to go' to watch the big matches on a 400sqm mega screen inside the stadium, which is already the best-known public viewing arena in Germany.

ROC President Fredrik Johnsson said: "With World Cup fever in full flow this month, we are delighted to announce this new way for football and motor sport fans to join forces at the next two major tournaments. Frankfurt's Commerzbank Arena already has the most successful public viewings in Germany but now we're taking that to the next level, along with the host of other events throughout the month. We hope ROC Euro and the ROC World Cup will kick off national rivalries on the racetrack every bit as intense as they are on the pitch."

Patrik Meyer, Managing Director of Frankfurt's Commerzbank Arena, added: "We are always searching for new event formats and with the new ROC Euro and ROC World Cup we are part of a new event development for our stadium. Motor sport and football is a combination that will excite the fans in Frankfurt and Germany. We are delighted to host those special events in 2016 and 2018 alongside our successful Public Viewings for the major tournaments in football."

The Race Of Champions is an annual end-of-season competition that brings together the world's greatest drivers from motor sport's main disciplines - including Formula 1, World Rally, Le Mans, MotoGP, Nascar, IndyCar, Touring Cars and the X-Games - and sets them free to battle head-to-head in identical machinery.

The Host for the 2014 event will be nominated in the near future and details about the venue will be announced in the coming weeks.